I am always interested in understanding where our customers are coming from.  Two things I hear a lot are “skilled workers shortage” and needing to “produce more with less money”.  Today’s tips are for helping you “do more with less”.  No matter what your role at the plant, you are expected to look for ways to squeeze more out of poor old Abe.  One way most plants can save is by reducing their energy costs:

1. Use variable-speed drives on motors serving variable loads.  (for more on this see this previous post on variable speed drives) When the motor is under a lighter load, they slow the motor down to reduce power consumption.

We won an Academy Award Oscar for customer service!!  Well, it feels like we did.

Oh, we like to consider ourselves smart, clever, problems-solvers…and we are.  But most of all ACS Industrial is a collaboration of customer-centered, skilled people who listen.  Why?  Because it matters.  A lot.

When we get letters like the one below we share them with our entire staff to make sure they know how important true customer service is and to show our appreciation…

If you were thinking of just maaaybe watching the Academy Awards (or maybe your wife/girlfriend/room mate, etc.) is making you watch) on Sunday night, here’s another reason to watch, at least between 8:00 and 9:00 pm…the awesome new Harpejji (see pic) will be featured when A.R. Rahman and Florence Welch of “Florence and the Machine” perform the Oscar-nominated song “If I Rise” from the movie “127 hours”! 127 Hours is up for Best Picture.

The Harpejji is the combination of an electric guitar and a piano and is played by tapping the strings.  As musicians become aware of this new instrument, popularity is growing!  Musicians like A.R. Rahman (also famous for “Slumdog Millionaire”), Coldplay, and Dream Theater use harpejjis.

Science fiction once again comes to life.  No, not flesh eating zombies but a tiny, incredibly dexterous robotic spy plane developed by  the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and built by AeroVironment .  You don’t think that’s totally cool?  Well, you will when you see it.  What’s really cool about it is that it looks and moves just like a real hummingbird!  Talk about covert surveillance!

The hummingbird drone is able to fly forward, backward, and sideways, as well as rotate clockwise and counterclockwise using only it’s two wings for propulsion and control.  It is also about the same size as an actual hummingbird with a 6.5 inch wingspan and weight of 19 grams. 

Chicken soup is delicious…steaming hot, homemade and swimming with noodles and chunks of tender chicken…you can almost taste it can’t you? 

Well, I can whip up some mean chicken soup.  Just ask my three buffalo-sized sons who also require multiple loaves of bread to go with it, and I’ve got some chicken soup for you too.  That is, chicken soup for your down industrial electronic equipment.

What I mean by “chicken soup” in this case is serious customer service.  We’ve got a team of customer service folks who really listen to you and make sure our outstanding tech team gets all the details about your item you sent in for evaluation and repair. 

Super Bowl XLV is only three days away and the excitement is building for what could potentially be an absolutely epic game. 

Both teams are well positioned to walk away with the Lombardi trophy and a pile of oversized, gaudy rings on Sunday.   Of one thing you can be certain – it will be a major slugfest between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh St…Ste..Stee… (arrrrrgh, as a Baltimore Ravens fan I cannot possibly bring myself to utter their name but you know who I’m talking about, they of the yellow rags, uh, I mean terrible towels).  Though I will admit, head coach Mike Tomlin is a class act and Troy Palumalu is a great talent and exciting to watch.

Punxsutawney Phil, he of the infamous shadow, announced today that he saw no shadow upon emerging from his rodent abode, so spring will be here soon.  Not a moment too soon for most of the country which has seen quite enough snow, ice and finger-numbing temperatures.  Probably quite enough for Phil too, since his cozy burrow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania was completely iced last night by a major storm. 

Brace yourselves!  The Blizzard of 2011 is apparently here.  We in the Mid-Atlantic are shivering in our boots, just not used to all this ice and snow.  Ocean City beaches are just a faint, sandy memory at the moment.

And driving?  If you’re from Chicago or Buffalo, you know Baltimoreans are incapable of driving in winter weather (me excepted of course!).  It’s a sight to behold!  I mean, did you HEAR about all the abandoned cars out there after our last storm?  Yep.  Abandoned…right in the middle of the road.   Now, where did those people go?  I dunno, but we haven’t found any of’em frozen in a snow bank yet!

New gadgets are always cool and fun and I love letting you know about new stuff.  If you are looking for more dynamic responsiveness, smoother operation, and lower vibration levels, then Siemens may have just the new spindle motor for your applications. 

The family of Siemens 1PH8 high performance induction motor drives and servo motors are now available in a wide power range from 2.8kW to 1340kW.  With a combination of induction and high-powered servo technologies they give a much greater degree of efficiency and precision.

Got gold?  Seems like everyone from entertainer or enlightener Glenn Beck (you choose which)  to hedge fund legends George Soros and John Paulson have been touting buying gold these days. 

Maybe investing in gold is right for you, or maybe not, but either way I’ve got a pot of gold for you!  That will be the money you save repairing your industrial electronics versus trashing them and buying new.   This month you can save even more at ACS when you get your industrial electronics repaired.