Whew! It's been quite the ride in 2017 with a very busy shop, working with talented co-workers and of course, the reason for what we do: creating our valued customers' electrical control panels. Here's a look back and a few stories that made our year.
Editor's Note: This fall, we published a series of posts about how UCEC is preparing for the future. We heard from our Executive and Management teams, and after reading their vision for UCEC's next chapter, we're pretty jazzed for what's ahead. Below, please find the entire series.
Last Saturday morning as I waited in the lobby of my hotel in California, something very small moving on the floor caught my eye. It was an ant, and the ant seemed to be “trapped” on a 12-inch-square light-colored tile.
U.S. manufacturing is on an upswing, as the Labor Department reported that manufacturers nationwide added workers last month at the fastest pace in more than four years.
We’ve always had colorful panels at UCEC, but now we have a little bit more paint inside our electrical control panels.
What's the magic behind the shop? We have plenty of ideas...starting with these three, below.
In a recent story by CompanyWeek, I was quoted as saying, “Keeping on the front end of innovation has remained a constant (for UCEC)....technology is a huge driver of the panels we build.”
UCEC has been featured on CompanyWeek, an online publication dedicated to news about the Rocky Mountain manufacturing economy. CompanyWeek has a unique focus on the "new" manufacturing sector with its progressive emphasis on new tech. This focus aligns well with UCEC's dedication to new technology.
Most of us in the panel business are used to being part of an industry that produces products that are used everywhere but largely unknown to the general public. Just like any specialty niche, we have a lot of industry jargon and product terms that we all know but people outside the industry don’t.
It's our pleasure to regularly give our blog readers a glimpse into our hard-working Management Team here at UCEC. Led by our officers Mark Inboden, President and CEO, and Evan Coulter, VP of Business Operations, the team also is made up of: John Beattie, Operations Manager for Production; Terry Engledow, Technical Support Manager; Zach Fothergill, Operations Support Manager; Garrod Massey, Operations Support Manager; and Paula Zangari, Project Coordinator.
One major focus for UCEC is to prevent component and system downtime within the panel. The root cause of failures are primarily linked to heat exposure and/or moisture. These electronic failures happen when the panel and its components are exposed to elements they were not designed to be in.
Our CEO and President Mark Inboden was recently featured in a video for the The Alternative Board (TAB). TAB brings business owners and leaders from non-competing industries in Denver, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Golden and Evergreen together in a group setting – similar to a board of directors.
A few months ago, I started acting as UCEC’s unofficial “911 operator.” I’m the one to call if the shop needs a part immediately. I’m kidding about the 911 part, but sometimes, there’s an urgency to our daily shop work.
Editor's Note: Last year, we asked our CEO and President, Mark Inboden, eight questions. We decided to return again with five more questions about UCEC, leadership and the future of panel building.
Last Saturday morning as I waited in the lobby of my hotel in California, something very small moving on the floor caught my eye. It was an ant, and the ant seemed to be “trapped” on a 12-inch-square light-colored tile.
Recently, Ron Siauw and I traveled to Underwriters Laboratory (UL) outside of Chicago for additional training. With UL, we have the ability in the UCEC shop to do three different listings: 508A (pretty basic, standard stuff); 698 and NNNY. These last two are ratings for control panels in hazardous locations.
More and more customers are asking for a UL listing, so I think it’s going to become standardized in the future. Many customers know the care we put into our panels, and they know the UL listing will be a good factor in their project.