New Beginnings Start with Endings Sometimes!

Congratulations to Billy Zimmerer on his Retirement after 21 years of service.  Billy has been a valued member of the CBS staff and the void of his absence will be hard to fill. 

But on the other hand, Billy has earned his retirement and he looks forward to spending time with his family and seeing more of American with his wife (heard something about a Nova Scotia trip again).

Lots of people ask me why our company is located in Gainesville, Texas.  Quite honestly it is because of good people just like Billy.  In the country, the mom's still raise the kids right and they are taught about hard work, integrity and respect.  Whereas in the city, the quality of employee is much different.  I will take the country everytime and so will most of our folks.  Thanks again Billy!

PS.. all "retirees" are automatically invited to all festivals and parties for as long as they would like to attend.  They may have retired from the workforce but they will always be part of our family. 

Best wishes to everyone in 2012

Investment Recovery Association

Circuit Breaker Sales is pleased to announce that we have renewed our membership in the Investment Recovery Association.

The IRA is committed to ethical practices and the good stewardship of the rare materials of the earth.  CBS supports them in their mission.

Hope to see you in March at their annual convention in Scottsdale.

The 78th Investment Recovery Seminar & Trade Show will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 11-14, 2012.

Participación de CBS en CONCAPAN XXXI

"Muy contentos con nuestra reciente participación en CONCAPAN XXXI celebrada en San Salvador.  Este evento organizado por IEEE Sección El Salvador, es el más grande de la Industria Eléctrica de Centroamérica.  Tuvimos oportunidad de compartir con buenos amigos y profesionales de diferentes sectores, empresas y países, así como también hacer nuevas amistades. 

Muy buen ambiente se vivió entre todos los participantes. La exposición Industrial contó con 65 stands de Empresas Internacionales, con una muestra bastante variada.

Le damos las gracias al comité organizador, especialmente el Ing. Mauricio Flores, por todas las atenciones prestadas. 

Nos vemos el año próximo en Managua para el CONCAPAN XXXII, le deseamos la mejor de las suertes a su comité organizador en especial a nuestro buen amigo el Ing. Mario De La Ossa."

ISO Certified

We just had our annual ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and we passed again with flying colors. 

For those of you who do not know ISO stands for International Standards Organization and Circuit Breaker Sales is the only "equipment dealer" in the USA with this level of certification. 

ISO basically means that our Quality Management System and Team are adequate to do the job we say we do.  We "walk the walk" not just "talk the talk".  When dealing with equipment dealers ask them for a copy of their Quality Management System.

Follow up to Mission Impossible..

As followers of the blog remember, a few weeks ago we were given a project to duplicate some switchgear that had been involved in a fire. Power Plant:  The accident occurred at the DeCordova Power Plant in Granbury, Texas.  The plant operates four natural gas-fired combustion turbines that generate 260 MW total.  The Accident:  It is believed that operators or electricians energized the 4160-volt switchgear while a ground was still installed following a maintenance activity.   While initially it had to look like there was not much chance of a "quick solution" or perhaps any solution (they had to think they needed magicians not scientists), fortunately the power plant called on the right service group who knew how to solve the problem.

By combining resources, our two companies were able to respond to this project in the time frame required by the customer.  There are way too many folks to thank here on this blog entry but about everyone on staff was involved in some little way either in working on the project direct or covering another job while we allocated that person to the project.  Pretty easy for the author to say it was fun, but I heard at least one tech say "let's not do that again for a couple weeks".  Scientists not magicians, this time we were magicians.  This switchgear went from the left to the right in about 3 weeks.




That's what we call CBS Emergency Response. Check out the wire, tape, termination care package we also sent along.  We even think of the little things.  Hopefully you will not need us, but if you do, you will be glad we are there.

UPDATE 3/11/12 - Check out this video (posted in 3D if you can handle it! I think you have to download the "wmv" file and then watch it with NVidia on a 3D enabled monitor). But we are the first to have some 3D Video.

From They want this back next week...

Mission Possible!

Last week our best local customer, who is also a large NETA service company brought us the following pieces of switchgear for "repair or reconditioning" (or whatever that magic that we do is called).

Their customer, a local utility has a very important customer who is serviced by this distribution gear.  It was/is imperative this customer be back on line fully functional ASAP.  And when I say "imperative/ASAP" I mean we were deputized to "do whatever it takes" and "duplicate this gear" (you cannot really fix some of that, we are scientists not magicians).  And so off we went.

I am not sure there are many companies that could accomplish this mission. And assuming the Texas Rangers games do not go into too many extra innings this weekend we should ship several sections like the following to replace this destroyed gear.  Fortunately we had about all of the components for this piece in stock and we sourced the rest.  The challenge was the customer insisted that this be an "exact replacement".  Kudos to Justin Brewer for overseeing the job and to all the crew working two shifts to make it happen.

More close up photos soon.

Links to more photos..

What a difference a week makes!

Another fast paced week.

In addition to the truckloads of  New Inventory Items (click here), we also shipped truckloads of equipment to customers in need.  Here is what shipped to a "refinery" that was in a jam.  Total time from Purchase Order to outbound truck = 42 hours.  This one was managed by Justin Brewer, nice job.

And not to be outdone by the switchgear department, here are a couple dozen vacuum breakers we also shipped this week.  This production project was managed by our sister company Innovative Electrical Equipment (iE2) which is run by Paul Grein. 

iE2 builds and engineers solutions for all sorts of "electrical product obsolescence". iE2 also consults and designs "unique projects" which require "Outside the Switchgear ®" thinking.   But there will more on them later.  Go Texas Rangers!

CBS Economics 101 - More Breakers = More Opportunities

CLICK PHOTO TO SEE
MORE WAREHOUSING

More breakers & equipment for us means better breaker deals for you.  Simple American economics.   (Although one of our warehouse guys has another theory, we cannot share that here on a family blog).

In this "down" economy, we continue to maximize and compliment our vast inventories as plants and facilities across the United States are either closed, off shored or consolidated.   We have the best most complete inventory we have ever had and that is no easy statement for anyone who has visited. 

Our warehouse staff are also employing the latest technologies to better catalog inbound equipment and our existing inventories (bar coding, & QR codes to name a few).  With these easy to access "digital details" (ie., photos, part numbers, voltages, ratings etc) CBS can respond quicker to help our customers.  And our customers can also take advantage of these resources and our thirty years  of experience by sharing in our online resources like our GCBS OnLine Inventory System

And Bill keeps saying that we could "run out of something" so please try to help him out and call or email so the warehouse guys will get off his back .. admittedly 64 Westinghouse DK-25's was more than enough but that was a long time ago.  History does not always repeat itself :)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEW ARRIVALS GALLERY

     

Mr. Schofield Goes to Washington!

UPDATE - 12/2/2011 .. OK we seem to get photos faster from Orion's Belt than the Beltway but down at the bottom are some more photos of Mr. Schofield meeting with some Congressmen.  The smiles are probably the result of all the "fuse jokes". 

What a week.  I spent the first part of the week in Washington DC at the 2011 Congressional Remanufacturing Reception sponsored by MERA (Motor Equipment Remanufacturers Association) & the Remanufacturing Industries Council.  

The focus of the event was to bring together many different "remanufacturing industry segments" so that we could pool our resources to communicate to Congress the many benefits of "remanufacturing".  I think 13 different industries were represented at this event.  I was there as a "circuit breaker (electrical) remanufacturer" but also as a representative for the Professional Electrical Apparatus Recyclers League. 

In addition to the skilled American jobs that remanufacturing & reconditioning creates, the environmental benefits of resource conservation and landfill management are too significant to ignore.  And if you do the "total cost of ownership calculations" on top of these things, there is nothing but positive benefits for society from the promotion and consumption of re-certified goods.  But presently the government (specifically GSA) precludes the purchase of any reconditioned or remanufactured goods.  And that is what we aim to change. 

As part of my time "on the Hill", I got to meet with two members of Congress, Walter Jones of NC and Dennis Ross of FL and staff members from all the Texas legislators (photos of the Congressman as soon as they are released by whoever it is that releases them).  We have offices in both of their districts that "remanufacturer"  and they were excited to learn about what we did.  Both pledged their support to promote our businesses and told us to "keep them in the loop".  

Thanks to our hosts John Chalifoux and Anne McCulloch from MERA, thanks to Brad Williams of CBS for providing the equipment I used (yes I will bring it back working like how I got it) and also to Teresa Sprouse (my office wife) for making sure I was there on schedule.

And super thanks to my "guide/mentor/consultant" Niles Godes of Clark & Weinstock.   His counsel and assistance was great and I look forward to working with him in the future as we continue this dialogue.

Congressman Walter Jones of NC	Congressman Dennis Ross of Florida

And the Winner of the Mystery Part Contest Is?

The "correct" answer as specified in the simple rules of the content was:

"an undervoltage device for an FP-25 (Bonus:  115vAC)"..

(the judges would have also allowed FP-50 and the FM-25, FM-50 breakers as they too share this device)

Contest Winners include:  Matt B from Satin (had picture of same part on his desk, nice touch), Ken P of National Power Equipment, Matt H of Power Systems, Guido T of GE Energy, Gus M of High Voltage Electric, Sal M of Norsal (not fair), and "Best Answer" award goes to Mike S of GE Energy whose answer was "that is the UV off my breaker which needs to ship this week, please put it back on there".. definitely a winner (and almost a loser in a funny kind of way, sorry not funny Mike)!

Incorrect Winners are: Ron G from Square D, Greg Z of Volland, Edward N of Siemens, Micheal J of GEXPRO, Walt D of IETC, Keith B of Energy Systems, Dave R of CWESCO, Lynn M of Manitoba Hydro, Matt W of Koffler, Pat M of Advanced Testing, Tony B of American Electrical Testing, Robert K of Nat'L Switchgear, Floyce L of GTS, Ben B of Weyhauser, Tico G of Power Delivery Services, Guy X of AXD Services, Sean H of NGRID.

And the Losers are: Anyone who did not play.  As you should already be aware, everyone who participates with Circuit Breaker Sales is a winner.  All contest participants will be sent a Coupon for a free T Shirt or Coffee Mug from our CircuitBreakerStore.com.

Stay turned for the next round of the Mystery Part Contest, coming soon!

When Emergency Calls, we are there!

OK many of you thought that the weekend job we did a couple weeks back with all the General Electric Magneblast equipment was impressive (and it was).  But that was before we pulled this one off.  

Recent flooding in upstate New York caused a known service and repair facility to call us with their "hope".  Their local utility was calling on them to bring a "ancient" Allis Chalmers 5kV substation back on after it had gone under 1 foot of water.  I said "only 1 foot, no problem, how many breakers do you need?"  And we proceeded to work out the details.

The total turn around time from receipt of the first phone call till the truck left our facility was 34 hours. 

Here are some photos of the (16) MA-250 Vacuum Roll In Replacements we shipped to replace the customers air breakers that went underwater.   We had to ship (2) 2000 amp mains to replace his MA-250C-1 breakers that were wired to a 18-723-364-402 wiring scheme and (13) 1200 amp feeders to replace his 1200 amp MA's and a couple MSV-250 breakers that were wired to a 18-806-541-411 scheme.

The customer was impressed that we had this many modern replacement breakers in our inventories, that we had the wiring diagrams on file, and that we could have them out this quickly rewired and fully tested.  They were not fighting the cost of the equipment, they are fighting the cost of downtime. 

Not very many dealers could pull off a solution like this in the time frame this customer asked for.  We even "cell fit" each breaker to to be sure everything was just perfect.   And the customer even commented that "the price was fair".  No one says that. 

Another big salute to Tim Brewer and his emergency crew for making this happen.  There will be more information on them "blogged in the future".

 Here is a link to the Reference Gallery showing lots of the ways that we can perform. 

More Daily Arrivals!

The weather has finally broken 100 degrees here in Texas and that gets our inventory/warehouse folks really moving. 

Easily the the largest challenge we have is keeping track of the 1 million parts and breakers we have in stock. 

(Don't believe me on that one million number?  Come visit me and after we walk around a bit, the loser buys lunch.)

Here is load of equipment that came in last week.  It includes a 4000 amp double ended 480 volt substation.  This particular one is General Electric AKD-8.  This is very popular switchgear and has a significant "installed base" across America.

This piece has AKR-8D-100 4000 amp main breakers with an AKR-8D-75 tie breaker and 5 AKR-8D-50 1600 amp feeder breakers.  And "8" was the Epic Microversatrip and the first generation of "communications".  Notice the EPU display units on both mains.  Our techs can re-certify all this and ship switchgear like this that looks new (see future blog article, we just shipped a large piece of this).

And this photo is for all the breaker aficionados (do you really suppose there is such a thing?)  I can think of 3 members of that club besides me.  But I am sure it is like Skull & Bones and you cannot divulge your membership nor can I divulge those 3 members (Scott you are in).

This is the breaker elevating device for that AKD-8 switchgear above. If anyone has ever had the task of inserting or removing a circuit breaker "without" this device, they will really appreciate this photo. 

And never forget to use "remote racking equipment" when inserting or withdrawing any kind of  circuit breaker, motor control or other similar electrical device. 

Learn more about our Remote Solutions at CBS Arcsafe "Distance is Safety".

PS.  Answer to Mystery Part will be posted next Monday!

Pulling Rabbits out of a Switchgear Hat!

AM13.8-1000 3000 amp
Primary Disconnects "Bottles""

Here is what the guys came in and expedited out last weekend for a large utility in Pennsylvania that had a generation station "off-line".

Luckily between the legacy parts we keep on hand and our used equipment inventories, we were able to deliver the  perfect solution in the time requested.  This is the kind of stuff we do best.

Kudos again to Tim Brewer and all the guys he entangled for a job well done.  The main office said they will all get this Monday off. 

Our Service Crews will be following up right behind this equipment to see if there is a way we can help them avoid these emergencies and the added costs they incur.  We sell proactive solutions as well as emergency response.

Shutter slide assembly, secondary
disconnection and M-36 parts

In the first picture is a set of "primary disconnects cell side" for the General Electric Magneblast M-36 Switchgear with the AM13.8-1000 3000 amp air circuit breaker.  Then we have all the elevating assembly and a all the parts to supply a "replacement cubicle in the box" (some assembly required).

You can see more examples of these "switchgear rabbits" in some of our shared photo galleries:  

         We Ship Parts Every Day!
         References and Examples of Quality

Call today if we can help (800) 232-5809 or (940) 665-4444 or EMAIL of course!

PS.. Hang on, the results of the "Mystery Part Contest" will be posted soon..

Mystery Part is Back!

The Mystery Part is Back!

Some of you might remember that right after Finley created the internet, Astro & CBS came up with the idea for the "Mystery Part Contest".  And if you recall, we played the game for a couple of years with lots of winners and a good time was had by all.  But for some reason it stopped. 

Well "It's Back" and this "blog" format might be just perfect for this "Game of Skill".  Join us in the new and improved Mystery Part Contest.

The first 3 people to (i) identify the part, and (ii) the manufacturer and (iii) type/model of the breaker it goes on will get a crisp $100 bill and our coveted "bad trip" T Shirt. 

And for more challenge, if you can guess the voltage we with throw in an extra bonus gift (coffee mug or golf balls usually).  Send your "guesses" to Mystery Part Judge!  A "back view" of this part is available Here!

Weasel Words:  Because this blog crosses state and international borders, my lawyers say we need some "disclosures" so here goes... this contest is open to all friends and customers of Astro Controls, CBS Arcsafe, CBS Nuclear, Circuit Breaker Sales, Circuit Breaker Sales & Service, Circuit Breaker Sales & Repair, iE2, Solid State Exchange & Repair, TheCircuitBreakerStore.com, Western Electric and/or any other affiliate of Group CBS.  But not employees or their immediate family members.   All winners names will be posted here and each winner is responsible for their own taxes. The decision of the Judges is usually final.