Solar flares can cause damage to electronics as they did in 1989 but be reassured that both you and your electronic equipment are in no danger from this large and spectacular solar flare. It is big, but not that big.

Those of you that live in higher latitudes may be lucky enough to see an extraordinary display of aurorae (aka Northern Lights). Those of us in lower latitudes will just have to make do with photos of this beautiful phenomenon.

The potential for damage could change over the next few years, however, as our sun is entering into a more active phase. Larger solar storms induce huge currents in power lines overloading the grid which is precisely what happened in Quebec back in 1989.

That said, your electronic equipment is far more likely to be damaged from many other mundane causes here on earth. The electronic axis of evil – heat, moisture, and dirt are always busy causing mayhem and literally gunking up the works.

If that evil trio have damaged industrial electronic equipment check out our website at acsindustrial.com for help or call our resourceful customer service team at 800-605-6419 where you can get help with circuit board repairs, power supply repairs, encoder repairs, servo motor repairs and much more.

Consistent to the extent that it is better than in developing nations, but perfectly consistent? No. In the U.S. there is a voltage drop of about 3-15% from the point where the electrical service delivers the power to where the power is actually consumed within any given industrial facility, mainly due to wire impedance.

3-15% may sound inconsequential, but multiply this repeatedly and you start to get the picture. This is especially true for critical or highly sensitive machinery such as MRI and oncology equipment in medical facilities, and recording equipment.

Over time, voltage sags, surges, and variations cause equipment damage, diminish equipment life span, cause digital errors and memory reboots, and production delays which cost you more money by way of:

• Lost production/missed deliveries
• Quality problems
• Extra labor/overtime
• Scrap and rework
• Repairs for electronic equipment

Ask yourself two questions: What does it cost per hour when your system is down? How much will it cost to restart the system? That should tell you whether automatic voltage regulation is important to your operation.

Automatic voltage regulators (AVRs) come in too many sizes, types and applications to list them all. They can be as tiny as a component on a circuit board and as large as a tractor trailer. Voltage regulation is also the ultimate purpose of units referred to as power conditioners and usually combine that function with voltage drop compensation, surge suppression, short circuit protection, phase to phase voltage balancing, line noise reduction, harmonic filtering, and more.

To know which of the following sample of AVR’s you will need, you will definitely want to do your homework with your engineer, electrician, and sales reps:

• Ferroresonant transformer
• Forroresonant voltage regulator
• Tap changer
• Tap-switching voltage regulator
• Servo voltage regulator
• Servo voltage stabilizer
• Motorized variac
• Variable autotransformer
• Line drop compensator
• Step voltage regulator
• Electronic voltage regulator
• Constant voltage transformer
• Magnetic induction voltage regulator
• On-load tap changer

And that’s just some of the options.

By the way, we do not sell voltage regulator equipment. We do however repair industrial electronic
equipment and we see the results of this damage every day. We can repair your damaged equipment and are happy to do so, but we know you would much rather avoid preventable repairs.

If you find yourself in the aggravating situation of needing industrial electronic repair services such as power supply repairs, lambda repairs, servo motor repairs, plc repairs, drive repairs, encoder repairs, circuit board repairs, cnc equipment repairs you can click on any of these links or call our helpful customer service reps at 800-605-6419. We are here to get you back up and running full speed ahead!

Just yesterday I was listening to a sports interviewer (who shall go unnamed) baiting Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens by suggesting the team was great but “stuck” with QB Joe Flacco. It made me think for a few minutes about why Joe Flacco does not seem to get the media respect that he statistically deserves. As I explained to two of my three sons (while waiting for the school bus at 6:20 a.m.!), maybe it’s because he is a pretty low key guy and does not spend much time, for better or worse, tooting his own horn.

After the big yellow school bus pulled away, I thought about this some more and applied it to our business. An "Aha!" moment. The secret to success is NOT keeping success a secret - but with at least some degree of dignity. That same day I received a note from one of our customers that went like this:

"I think everyone at ACS is so prompt and professional and it’s actually a pleasure doing business with ACS. I recommend ACS to everyone I do business with."

Now, we get quite a few comments like this which reassures me our customer service team members are absolutely the best. Great repairs are important, but the process shouldn’t be painful. Superior customer service is the sweet spot…the great differentiator.

If you’ve been getting the runaround from your industrial electronic repair house, give our team a call at 800-605-6419. We promise we will do everything possible to
get your industrial electronics repaired and returned to you quickly and in good working order … with a pleasant and helpful attitude.

Visit our website too where you can find info on all types of industrial electronic repair services from circuit board repairs to servo drive repairs to monitor & touch screen repairs. And if you have comments, praise, or yes, even complaints, please let us know. We do want to hear from you.

And as a final thought, what was that guy thinking baiting Terrell Suggs?! Hasn’t he seen what this guy does to opposing quarterbacks? I suspect even Pittsburgh’s Big Ben Roethlisberger dreads facing Mr. Suggs on game day because he knows the next day he is going to be hurting! Go Ravens!!

In a nutshell, job satisfaction has increased among automation professionals with more than 80% indicating they are satisfied with their job – although these days some level of satisfaction can come from just having a job at all.

Participants of this survey work in 40 different industry segments with the majority being in the Engineering Services segment. Job functions of respondents ran the gamut from Application Engineering, to Consulting Engineering, to Facilities Management, to Plant Engineering to Sales to Training & Education, as well as many others in between. More than 69% of respondents had a college degree or higher.

For you news bite junkies here are the highlights:

• Average Salary for respondents in the U.S. for 2010 was $99,540; in Canada, $101,646.
• The Top Five highest paid job functions were: Consulting Engineering,
  Engineering Management, Safety Systems Engineering, General or Operations
  Management; Project Management
• Salary for those who completed a graduate degree was the highest; those who had started but not completed a graduate program commanded only a marginal salary increase so clearly it pays to finish what you start here.
• By industry segment, the highest average salaries were in Utilities – Pipelines except Natural Gas; in descending order the next highest were Oil & Gas Extraction, Petroleum Refining & Related Industries, Engineering Services, Utilities Combo (Nuclear/Fossil Fuel, etc.),Valves, Fittings, Fabricated Metal Products
• By U.S. Region, the top salaried region is the Pacific West at an average of $101,877 and the lowest the West North Central Midwest at $93,240
• By Degree, Electrical Engineering degrees were the highest earners at $109,492 and Liberal Arts the lowest at $91,000 just below IT at $100,000
• The average salary for males was $100,422; for females $87,351
• Professionals who were members of industry organizations pulled in higher salaries than those who were not
• In a change from previous years, the average salary of independent contractors was almost identical to that of direct employees – previously independents received a few thousand dollars more per year
• More than 30% of respondents say they will retire in the next 10 years and almost 14% in the next five years
• Unsurprisingly, many respondents feel much greater pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs
• The top four most important benefits cited by respondents were: health insurance,pension plans/401K, flexible working hours, and paid time off
• Average vacation time: 3 weeks per year
• Most respondents clocked between 41-45 hours perweek work time

There’s more detailed information in this survey so for those of you who are either highly analytical or visual, here’s the link for a ton of nifty charts and graphs on the Automation.com website. For the full article go to the InTech.com website.

ACS Industrial Services supports automation, engineering, and manufacturing by providing fast and accurate repairs for a wide range of industrial electronics from plc repairs, to servo motor repairs, to power supplies, monitors & touch screens, test equipment, circuit boards, cnc equipment, drives, encoders, light curtains and much more. If you have questions or need assistance call our customer service team at 800-605-6419. We've got your back!

While some of our staff lost power at home, and some of us were late getting to work this morning thanks to flooded roads, washed out bridges, and gridlocked traffic, we are in fact ALL here and servicing your repairs.

Water and electronics are not friends and are about as likely as Steelers and Ravens fans to make nice. So, if your best efforts to keep your industrial electronics cool and dry fail, do not despair. Water damaged or overheated industrial electronics are often repairable.

Contact our always helpful customer service team if you think you might need power supply repairs, servo motor repairs, monitor repairs, servo drive repairs, circuit board repairs, or any other industrial electronic repairs. We will be pleased to help you determine the reparability of your water-logged industrial electronics and get them back into service for you, quickly and efficiently.

You can reach us at 800-605-6419 or go directly to our website for more information or to request and free evaluation for your damaged industrial electronics.

Of course, if you are one of our injection mold customers, you will already know this. You will also know that it takes a lot of big equipment for injection or blow mold manufacturing. It is also a really cool process to watch…at least it never fails to amaze me!

Not so cool, however, is when your equipment is damaged or defective and production is stopped. Did your plc fail? Drive break down? Temperature controller go rogue?

We receive requests for motor repairs, servo drive repairs, plc repairs, temperature controller repairs, and encoder repairs from our mold manufacturing customers every day of the week. Let us get our technicians right on these repairs and back to you fully tested and in perfect working order.

No fooling around and no blushing involved. Just fast, expert industrial repair services for the most important part of our company – our customers! Call our helpful customer service team at 800-605-6410 or go directly to our website where you can request a free evaluation for your damaged equipment.

If you’ve got water or storm damaged industrial electronics, not all is lost. Many items may still be repairable. Following Hurricane Katrina the ACS team was able to provide repair services to many companies affected. Our techs were able to repair many pieces of industrial electronics including a large quantity of circuit boards coated in Louisiana mud. It was messy, but we did it!

Get your equipment back up and running fast. Our tech team is ready to help you with circuit board repairs, storm damaged power supply repairs, drive repairs, motor repairs, monitors, encoder repairs, and most other industrial electronics repairs.

For assistance, call our helpful customer service team at 800-605-6419 or go directly to our website where you can request a repair evaluation. Rush service is available.

Besides just flat out asking our customers what’s up in their world, I also like to participate in various online forums and social media for facilities, maintenance, and plant managers. What I hear is that you all really love solving plant problems and finding solutions to nagging plant issues that effect energy efficiency, sustainability, construction, plant equipment, security, and safety.

You love the daily variety of the work and the chance to make things run better. Not that things are always perfect. I also hear your frustrations such as “maintenance is the first department to get budget and staffing cuts”, “ too many regulatory and changing requirements”, “ tough to find electrical technicians with the right set of skills”, and “adhering to someone else’s timeline”.

Nevertheless, I am awed by the overwhelming positivity you guys continue to express and the ways you find to solve the problems at hand. For example, one fellow was frustrated with the fact that management made decisions and budget cuts without really understanding what he was up against.

He didn’t yell or go home and beat the dog; instead he threw a party in the engine room and invited management. They came and were fascinated, learned a thing or two and got to meet the people that actually make it all work. The next time they rework the budget, they will do so with a greater understanding of the facilities’ needs.

Our goal is to help you achieve your goals when you need industrial electronic repair services. Whether it’s servo motor repairs, or drive repairs, power supply repairs, CNC repairs … whatever it is, let us know the situation…the more we know the more we can help. If it’s a super rush, let us know and our technicians will do everything possible to meet your requirements.

As one forum writer noted, being a Plant/Facilities/Maintenance Manager is not for the faint of heart nor the slow of mind. I think we can all agree on that.

I’m thinking that we are keepers as well as repairers…industrial electronics keepers. Nothing makes me happier than to repair your industrial electronics and get them back to you in good working order and to know that you are satisfied with our performance in “keeping” your electronics. Industrial Electronic Repair Keeper…hmm, I’m liking the way that feels, sort of like putting on the perfectly worn-in baseball glove.

What about you? What kind of “keeper” are you?

Making a big investment in new automation equipment may cause you to become paralyzed with fear of making a mistake. Buyer’s remorse is a gut-twisting feeling no one wants to have whether the item is as small as a new cell phone or a much larger purchase like a new automation system.

Here are some tips to remember as you begin your search for the perfect new automation system:

1. Know your specifications BEFORE you begin the search. And not just generalities – get a detailed equipment specification by examining all aspects of the project. Know your cycle times, yield, up-times, quality expectations, hardware preferences, design requirements, etc.
2. Personally visit automation houses before you get quotes. Go to at least two. You will likely get different solutions from different vendors.
3. Involve your production people in the process. They are the folks who will be responsible for operating and living with the system. You hired them presumably because they’re good so take advantage of their knowledge and experience. They could save you valuable time and money.
4. Supply the vendor(s) with up-to-date drawings and parts specs. Simple but important.
5. Estimate the costs correctly and for heaven’s sake get a quote BEFORE you float your idea in front of those holding the purse strings. Better to estimate high and look like a hero when you come in under budget than to go in low and have to beg for more money later.
6. Have or plan for having the in-house expertise to operate and maintain the new equipment. Your new automation may take fewer staff to operate but it will require someone with additional training or skills.
7. Speak plainly, clearly, and repeatedly with your chosen vendor(s). Document all communications and make sure everyone is on the same page throughout out the project so that errors can be caught early. Review progress in detail regularly and utilize modern resources such as 3-D modeling and on-line meeting technologies. Even if logistics are a problem, technology will save you time and travel money.
8. Know exactly why you are purchasing an automation system or even if you should. Can your process components be fed automatically? How frequently does your product mix change? Can your new system accommodate future changes without having to start all over? Being modern does not mean being inefficient. Manual or semi-automatic solutions could just be the smarter solution.

No matter what automation system you purchase, eventually it will be out of warranty. Even the best systems will experience some problems. Send us your defective, out of warranty parts for industrial electronic repairs such as plc repairs, cnc board repairs, and power supply repairs. Evaluations are always free and rush repairs are available for panic situations. If you’ve got questions, call our always helpful customer service reps at 800-605-6419.