In the past, the Buzz has carried many of my words about our people at Group CBS and our desire to find, hire, and mentor the best people we can find.
This time, I take keyboard in lap at flight level 410 on an American Airlines flight to Chicago for the IEEE Power & Energy Society Transmission & Distribution Conference and Exposition.
Group CBS has many new and exciting things to talk about, but first let’s get the message out that I have been harping on lately:
The definition of reliability seems to be the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time. This is something we need to explore further.
In the past, the Buzz has carried many of my words about our people at Group CBS and our desire to find, hire, and mentor the best people we can find.
This time, I take keyboard in lap at flight level 410 on an American Airlines flight to Chicago for the IEEE Power & Energy Society Transmission & Distribution Conference and Exposition.
Group CBS has many new and exciting things to talk about, but first let’s get the message out that I have been harping on lately:
The definition of reliability seems to be the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time. This is something we need to explore further.
The ability of a system or component to perform its required function under stated conditions—this is what we are all about. We take a system or a piece of equipment that has a useful life and either prove it can still function as needed, or upgrade, remanufacture, or develop products or services to extend their life if necessary. Take our core product: the lonely, ugly, oft-maligned, abused, and forgotten-until-it-causes-an- issue, sitting-in-the-dark-all-alone circuit breaker. It is asked to stand vigil over our most critical assets, to watch over them, carefully—for years and sometimes decades—without any service or attention until that instant when it is asked to “wake up quick like” in 30 milliseconds and save someone’s ass.
The breaker’s lubricants are taxed beyond design. Years of thermal terror and airborne particulates—from iron oxide to HCL gas—have taken their toll.
But we say, “Wake up and come to work. Be perfect. And be quick.”
I think we ask too much for this breaker to be reliable without some vitamin pills, good food, and daily exercise. I know that I need all that, plus a trip to see the doctor once a year for a tune-up. I guess this is what makes our market so strong: the fact that engineers, managers, and technicians put this equipment in service and forget about it until it is needed.
New tools, new lubricants, and new maintenance plans are targeted to help resolve this issue, but based on past experience, this 40-year-old equipment is not going to be replaced until it fails. And if it is replaced, the newer equipment is much less rugged and will be of far worse concern in the near future. So, we, the unknown forces of the electrical world—just like so many others in similar fields—are asked to help keep the systems and components up to snuff, performing their required functions under all conditions till the end of time…a task I have reveled in for, oh, nearly 40 years.
Group CBS Happenings
Now the update: Randy Roumillat has come to us from Yahoo to help build Astro Controls into a powerhouse. With his strong management and internet background, we hope Randy can help develop a team and information services able to support all the Group CBS companies quickly and efficiently.
Circuit Breaker Sales’ Bill Schofield is deep into a new Circuit Breaker Store system that will be revealed to all soon. Look for big new things here. Houston and Astro have both started building expansions that will allow for more storage or inventory and additional working space. This will enable both to grow and build on new ideas and products.
I have had my head buried in Connecticut and New York City the last six months, working on a project to bring a new service shop to the Group. This is a very ambitious project because we plan to purchase several businesses and merge them together into one new business.
At the end of April, we successfully completed Phase 1 of the plan, purchasing selected assets of Diversified Electric Services (DES, Seymour, Conn.). DES was a full-service electrical equipment supply, repair, and field service company serving utility, industrial, and commercial customers in the Northeast region.
The new company, Astro Controls, Inc., will merge DES assets, a 96,000-square-foot-facility, and 27 people with Group CBS’s existing resources to serve customers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. This has been the old “herding cats” scenario, but we seem to be nearing completion and should start operations very soon. Please welcome Matt Brierley to our sales team at CBS NE, which now also includes veteran electrical salesmen Tim Kelly and Lou Lavorgna.
Western Electrical Services is coming off its best year yet and continues to grow and look at new expansions. Craig, Dan, and Tony are shaking and moving, rocking and rolling in the Mountain West.
CBS ArcSafe, again, was the top-selling and -earning affiliate in the Group in 2013 with WES a close second. But this new project in the Northeast will have something to say about that in the years to come.
Look for three new Group CBS sales offices this year, with the first in California. We’ve already made a first hire: Mike Kelly from General Electric field service sales. We also will open offices in Houston and Chicago/Detroit.
These affiliates will be standalone companies and will sell every product in the Group, funded by the Group, and marketed to everyone.
New fun things to check out are CBS ArcSafe’s full-feature catalog and some of the videos CBS/AS and RVI have been producing on YouTube. Read on for more.
One closing thought on reliability:
Remember that is where we started and where we should end. I’m not as reliable as I once was, but I try to be more reliable than I need to be! I suspect you old guys get that notion.
Reliable People, Reliable Equipment, and a Growing Group CBS | By Finley Ledbetter, CEO, Group CBS