News and What We are Up To.
Safety Controls Design Build
Safety Controls Design Build The IAS Story Recently, an IAS customer bought a new machine, involving a door and a screw conveyor. Unfortunately, the machine door switch and screw conveyor controls did not meet current safety standards. IAS engineers noticed the deficiency, and brought it to the customer’s attention. They asked IAS to correctly install safety equipment on the machine to bring it up to current codes. Here you see one of our interns, Edgar, constructing a machine safety panel, which applies rated safety components to equipment. IAS designed and fabricated the proper safety controls for the equipment. The site’s electrician will install the system according to IAS prints. Please tell your customers that IAS has the knowledge and capability to bring equipment up to current safety standards, including assessment, design, installation, and testing. Ken Deering...
read moreBradley Attack
Bradley Attack! For those of you who believe that IAS only hires engineers from Iowa State, then here is some jarring reality news – IAS has 2 engineering interns from Bradley University! What’s that all about? Well, we needed some summer engineering help and we found 2 eager young college students that were looking for summer engineering work. The equation balanced for both parties, so here they are. Edgar (Left) is from the Quad Cities area, and is from a family of 3 other children. He enjoys computers and helping folks, and actually did that job at a local retailer in Moline. He’s a fisherman, so he can probably exaggerate, too. Edgar has worked hard on his studies at Bradley, and is looking forward to graduating in May, 2017 or perhaps sooner if the chips land the right way. Cameron, (Right) shown here with his panel building mentor, Mike, is from Central Illinois, east of Peoria. Cameron is a soccer player from high school, and also ran track. He looks like he is in pretty good shape, so I wouldn’t suggest you challenge him to a race. Cameron will be graduating in May, 2017. Stop by and introduce yourself to Edgar and Cameron. Their office is next to Jimmy Skadal. Help these Illinoisians feel welcome at IAS/Shaw Electric, even if you’re an Iowa State fan! Ken Deering...
read morePanel Panoply
Panel Panoply Well, they’re at it again. The IAS three musketeers of Josh Kruse, Steve Garthaus, and Mark Johnson are designing and building up a storm of control panels for a customer’s new process. Josh plays the role of chief engineer and designer, whipping up the plans to control the equipment, and programming the industrial computer to do so. Steve is the computer jockey, getting the designs into CAD and on to paper to build. Mark reprises his role of the builder, bringing the control design to real life. Josh, Steve, and Mark are all seasoned guys, with around 50 years of experience all told. They’ve tilted at many control and design challenges over the years, and they put out excellent results. Eric Holst and the Shaw fellers are going to be doing the field installation and wiring. When it’s show time, Josh will be there for check out and commissioning of the system. Please pass along to your customers our terrific ability to design, build, and install control systems! Josh Kruse, Chief Engineer and Designer (above). Steve Garthaus, Computer Jockey (below). Mark “Funky” Johnson, The Builder (above). Ken Deering...
read moreAcceptance Testing
Acceptance Testing If you hire a mechanic to fix your car, how do you know if their work is acceptable? You check it out, right? You look it over carefully, you give it a test spin, you may look under the hood, and you may keep your eyes and ears open to make sure there aren’t any weird noises or dashboard lights. So, how do our customers know if what Shaw Electric or IAS installs is acceptable? They check it out, or often, they hire someone that has the knowledge and expertise to check it out. Or, the customer might ask for testing results, which is where IAS comes in. Stephen Mahieu is IAS’s Field Service Supervisor, who performs acceptance testing to ensure the installation is done well. Shaw Electric jobs are acceptance tested as a matter of good practice. Here’s some of what is expected by Bob Shaw on Shaw Electric jobs: For services, test ground resistance and check grounding connections, check panel connections and bus work, and check for surge arrestor. For cables, meggering, hi pot testing for high voltage cables, and visual examination. For breakers, test trip units and check settings. For high voltage transformers, test ground resistance, check connections, check for physical protection, and megger test. For medium voltage gear, check connections and bus work, megger, and check terminations. Visually check the installation. After systems are energized and loaded, check out the gear and connections with the thermal camera to check for hot spots. Be sure to call IAS several weeks in advance when you need a new service or gear checked out. We’ll schedule a tech to check out your system, so you can show your customer that their installation is done right and it will work right. Ken Deering 3/24/15...
read moreThe Professor Is In
The Professor Is In That’s right, we have a professor working with us now—meet John Simmons. John is an Electrical Engineer (Purdue, not Iowa State!) that is helping us with arc flash projects. John has extensive experience in the utility world, and most enjoys design and estimating. So where does the ‘Professor’ title come in? Well, John has a PhD in Business Administration, and is an Adjunct Professor at St. Ambrose University. John lives in Muscatine with his wife and youngest son. His older boy manages Culvers in Muscatine, and his youngest is a junior at Muscatine HS, and loves math and science. The Simmons enjoys traveling, and their son has a goal to visit a zoo in every state. Last year they did the 3C’s tour, you know, Cleveland, Canton, and Columbus. And they enjoy college campuses and the museums they have to offer. John’s favorite trip was to Hawaii— wouldn’t that feel nice right about now! John is a gardener—a big gardener. His garden had 40 tomato plants alone! That’s a lot of tomatoes! They grow and process their vegetables for home consumption and to give away. If you like 70’s and 80’s rock, then you enjoy the music that John enjoys. Stop by and introduce yourself to John. He’s in the office next to Jimmy Skadal. And if you want to take a test for some reason, the professor can probably take care of that urge. Ken Deering...
read moreStandardize
Standardize IAS is known for creating control solutions for industry. Each installation is carefully designed and programmed to meet the customer’s needs. So that means each installation is custom—no two are exactly alike. Recently IAS was contacted by a customer to do just the opposite—standardize custom controls on 7 different machines. The customer has an interest in making the components and the interconnecting wiring identical and modular, so if there is a problem with one part, it can easily be replaced with an identical part. This will help them lower their spare parts inventory and speed up repairs when they’re needed. Here you see the prototype control boxes, ready for installation. Along with foot switches and plug and play wiring, the customer will have identical controls on each machine. IAS will have to modify the machines’ main control cabinets to accept the modular wiring harnesses. Mike Truninger, a new tech with IAS, has developed the controls and selected components. He has had to brush up on his German to read the control drawings for the 7 different machines! Please let your customers know that IAS can not only create custom controls, but they can also help standardize controls, for quick repairs and fewer spare parts. Ken Deering 1/26/15 ...
read moreCool Sub Job
COOL SUB JOB During this past ‘free’ month of winter we’ve been having, IAS has been busy finishing up outdoor projects before the snow flies. We almost made it, but snow delayed the start of our latest substation yard upgrade. Our customer needed to change out 2 old circuit breakers, and perform PM’s on some overhead knife switches. After waiting a day, our crew was able to tackle the job. (Below) BJ Jackson and Stephen Mahieu fly in a new circuit breaker. Who says BJ never does any real work??!! (Above) Tim Clark awaits the breaker, ready to start wiring it into the system. (Below) Mark Johnson PM’s the yard switches. Looks warm, eh? Ken Deering 11/22/14...
read moreBringing Solutions
Bringing Solutions Recently we had a customer with a unique power problem—widely varying load, wildly swinging power factor, and a large new load to power up. This wasn’t a simple solution and how they wanted to provide power to their new load was going to involve a new substation and substantial cost. IAS reviewed the situation and came up with a unique plan to utilize an existing substation, with new gear added for power distribution, and for power factor correction. Below, you see Mark Johnson (foreground) and Tim Clark Sr. running conduit to a new main breaker. Indoors, they have installed a new distribution panel, and will install an new hybrid power factor unit. The customer will benefit with a good solution at a lower price, and will improve power utilization at their facility with the new power factor correction unit. IAS and Shaw Electric can bring ideas and solutions to our customers to solve complex problems in cost effective ways. That’s a way we bring value to our customers and why we have so many customers come back to us for many years of service. Tell your customers how we can bring cost effective solutions for their electrical needs! Ken Deering 10/22/14...
read moreNew Customers
New Customers We recently acquired a new customer, which is good in its own right. But the way it happened shows how good things happen when our organization works as a team. The customer called for service work on an induction furnace breaker that was malfunctioning. The other electrical contractor he called didn’t respond, so he was reaching out for help. The call came through the main switchboard, where Chelsey routed the call to Joe in our Service department. Joe told her IAS was probably best suited to provide service in this case. I talked to the customer and realized the desperation in his voice about his process being down. We juggled our schedule, and Mark Johnson, below, responded to the call. Mark scoped out the problem and brought a malfunctioning breaker back to the shop. However, with his previous commitments, he couldn’t address the breaker, but his trusty team mates, Mike Truninger and Stephen Mahieu, did. Mike repaired the breaker, re-installed it at the customer’s facility, and got them back up and running. The customer was very pleased with the response, and expressed his confidence that with our help in the future, he can fix other electrical and automation issues at his plant that he needs help with. This customer will most likely bring a lot of business to Shaw Electric and IAS in the future. Being flexible and customer oriented across our company pays dividends for everybody. Keep up the Team Work! Ken Deering 9/26/14 ...
read moreOutage Heaven
Outage Heaven ‘Tis the season for outage work for the crews from IAS and Shaw Electric. Ethanol plants have been doing their annual outages for maintenance, repair, and project work. They value our expertise, quality of work, and commitment to keep their electrical systems operating reliably, so our customers have kept us busy performing electrical maintenance and construction work. Here, the crew of Mystery Man, Tony ‘Nice’ Nicewanner, and Nick ‘Who Needs a Ladder’ Terry, clean a 15kV distribution switch under the watchful eye of Rick ‘Gray Beard’ Hall. They’re cleaning dust and dirt off the equipment, lubricating, polishing, and looking for any problems. Our IAS test crew of Jimmy ‘Zapper’ Skadal and Mike ‘M of M&M’ Truninger, is not far behind, electrically testing the switchgear and filling out the paper work. Jimmy appears to really enjoy getting out of the office – mental note for future manpower assignments….. Tim ‘Jr’ Clark and Bob ‘Jr Jr’ Shaw and took care of project work, by adding a 15kV switch to an existing lineup for a project now under design and construction by IAS and Shaw Electric. Don’t drop it, fellers…. Doing a great job and watching out for our customer’s electrical systems is why we’re invited back again and again on outages. Keep up the good work, guys! Please let your customers know that IAS and Shaw Electric can PM and test their electrical gear to keep it safe and reliable! Ken Deering 8/26/14 ...
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