Christmas Day

Christmas has again come and gone and we are at the beginning of a new year.  Let me share with you what happened on Christmas day.

We are up and slowly opening gifts when the phone rings.  One of our customers is on the phone and telling me that they lost there 400 horsepower Variable Frequency Drive overnight due to a huge power problem that happened at the plant.  They had many issues they were dealing with and had one of the local Electrical Contractors on site trying to restore power and fix a problem with the main transformer that feeds the plant.

Now I started thinking and remembered that the customer had purchased a spare unit for this application and I told him that it should be out there somewhere in the warehouse.  He did not know this and told me that he would start looking for it but meanwhile, he wanted our Service Engineer on the way to try to fix the VFD.

Madhu, our Service Engineer first drives to the office to gather together some spare parts as the customer by now has called a few times and is relaying to us that he cannot find the spare drive.  He is in panic mode and we are doing what we can to get him up and running once power is restored to the plant.  We have contacted one of the people from the VFC the factory and yes, they answered the phone on Christmas day!  We talked about the potential of being able to get parts out on an airplane if needed but all the while I was hoping that the customer would find the spare unit that I knew was on-site.

There had been a few personel changes at this customers location and the person that had purchased the spare unit no longer works there.  Due to this, no one knew where the spare unit was and from what I was being told, it just wasn't there.  Meanwhile Madhu had arrived at the site and had begun to check out the unit for what damage it has sustained duing the power event.  He called me and told me what parts he thought he would need to fix the existing unit and I informed him and the customer that I would start the ball rolling to get parts flown in for the drive.  I also at this point told the customer that I was certain that the spare drive was on site and that they needed to organize a search party and find it because there was a good possibility that I was not going to be able to get parts out until the next day.  The airport near the factory is a small one and only has a few flights out each day let alone it was Christmas day.

Just as I was making arrangements for parts, I recieved a phone call that they had found the spare unit that was on site.  Madhu finally finished at nine pm that night and drove the two hours it takes to get home from the location back to Salt Lake.

So here's the score: Out of the last 11 Christmas days, called out twice.  Customers back up and running Christmas day....100%

I am pleased to tell you that as a team- we ROCK!  Just the fact of the matter.  Where else are you going to find that type of service and dedication?  Madhu is truely dedicated to our customers being up and running and US Drives shares his and our collective attitude and concern towards the customer.

Kinda makes a guy proud to be part of this team....

Scott