75 YEARS - Hubbell Power Systems

BUMPY TRANSITION
As a trial, we bought and installed three
of the new USCO switches. Although the
construction crew members said they liked the
switches, they complained that the switches
were not packaged the way they wanted them
to be nor were they comfortable with the
installation instructions.
Further, our old switch configuration included
an interrupting bottle that dropped the
parallel line charge on the lines for up to 40
miles. Some of our people wanted to continue
using the vacuum bottles. Others didn’t want
to use the bottles. And some didn’t want the
USCO switches at all.
Another issue was training. Even though
USCO/Hubbell Power Systems offered to train
our crews on how to install the Center Break
V Switches, our APS crews couldn’t work it
into their busy schedule. Despite all this, APS
decided to buy and install the USCO Center
Break V switches, as our new standard on new
and existing 795 ACSS lines.
In the beginning of 2010, TDES began receiving
reports of USCO switch failures in Yuma, AZ;
problems included both vacuum bottle and
switch operation failures. APS had purchased
and installed 10 USCO switches in the area
and, after an investigation, we discovered that
each of the 10 switches had been installed
in a different manner. It became very clear
that the problems were due to lack of proper
switch installation training.
Pete Swales, Sales Representative for Hubbell
Power Systems, and Ron Chamblee, Production
Supervisor for Hubbell’s USCO brand were
immediately contacted for training assistance.
Without delay, Hubbell started working with
us to fix the problem. Although Ron was based
out of Alabama, he said “If I have to jump on a
plane tomorrow, I will.”
TIPS &NEWS
ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Working with TDES, Pete and Ron set up on-site
training, in Yuma, to make sure that all USCO
switches were properly installed and operated
correctly.
This training took place in the middle of the
Arizona summer, when temperatures were hitting
110 degrees Fahrenheit, every day. Ron came
down twice and spent a week each time with the
crews responsible for installing the switches. He
even went up in a bucket with groups of crew
members to make sure everyone really learned
how to properly install the switches.
While Ron was here in Arizona, we had the
APS training department make an installation
training video, which is currently available on
our internal APS web site.
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