Rubbermaid Home Products in
Winfield recently found itself with a 20+ year-old main switchboard (MSB9) with
a 4,000 amp main disconnect switch that had worn thin, resulting in loose
contact surfaces and a history of overheating. Knowing that tightening the poor
contact surfaces would provide only temporary relief, and that the only
solution was replacement, project manager Cori Young knew the
replacement had to occur during Rubbermaid’s Labor Day week shutdown.
“We needed to strategically plan and implement
the replacement of Rubbermaid’s switchboard before this potential safety risk
became a plant-wide hazard, as well as provide the least amount of disruption
to a very large-scale production facility” said Young, who was already working
closely with Siemens’ equipment distributor, Consolidated Electrical
Distributors (CED) in Wichita, to ensure the correct replacement equipment
would match the proper footprint of the old switchboard and minimize feeder
circuit conduits rerouting.
At 6 a.m. the morning after Labor
Day, with coffee in hand, our crews rolled out. By 8:30 a.m. we’d worked with
the local utility to safely shut down and isolate power to the old switchboard.
After then disconnecting and removing the many feeder circuits, the old
equipment was removed by noon. By 3pm the new switchboard was in place, bolted
together, and all electrical connections were tightened and torqued to
manufacturer specs.
By the end of Day 2, all circuits
had been verified, reconnected, and torqued. The equipment was reenergized by
the utility, and system checks were carried out both at the main services and
at each of the individual feeder circuits. In the end, MSB9 service was down
only 33 short hours during this comprehensive project.
Why did Rubbermaid® choose Young
Electric?
Safe, quality service, from
highly skilled veterans in power distribution equipment installation. The icing
on the cake? Complete project management: installation pre-planning,
specifications, purchasing, freight logistics, risk assessment, safety
briefings and more.