Driving New Zealand Industry for 40 years - Schneider Electric

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Schneider Electric
The Newsletter of
Schneider Electric
New Zealand
March 2013
Driving New Zealand Industry for 40 years
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Cover story
Driving New Zealand Industry for
40 years
"From the
early days of
pioneering the
first VSD's from a
small operation in
Napier, to being
one of the largest
AC motor control
equipment
manufacturers in
the world."
Through innovation and transformation, this year
marks the 40th anniversary of Schneider Electric’s
Variable Speed Drive (VSD) technology in New
Zealand. From the early days of pioneering the
first VSD’s from a small operation in Napier,
to being one of the largest AC motor control
equipment manufacturers in the world, our
commitment to our customers has never been
stronger. Today, as they have been for the past 40
years, the pillars of innovation, quality and support
are still fundamental to our market leading AC
motor control products and services.
Beginnings
Initially incorporated in 1973 as Industrial
Electronics and Automation Ltd (IEA), a group of
young engineers with support from the University
of Canterbury pioneered the fundamental
technology that is still used in VSDs throughout
the world today. Initially proving the ‘inverter
principle’ to control AC induction motors on an
electric car project at the university, the team
went on to produce the first commercial VSD
product – the DJB, named after Professor David
Byers of Canterbury University.
By the mid 80’s, IEA had been acquired by PDL
Holdings to become PDL Electronics. Being
part of a larger group allowed PDL Electronics
to re-focus and invest in new technology for
each subsequent generation of VSDs, each time
improving, refining and developing new features.
For example PDL Electronics was the first to
use bi-polar transistors for the power section
of the MK1 Microdrive in 1982, then by the mid
80’s the ASDi range offered parallel drives up to
500kW, serial communications and flux vector
motor control – highly advanced features for the
technology of the time!
Innovation
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, PDL Electronics
went on to develop world leading drives
technology, introducing trade mark names
such as ASD, Microdrive, Ultradrive, Xtravert
and Nustart soft starters. These icons helped
automate industries to become more efficient,
safe and reliable so they could be competitive on
the world stage. In 2001, PDL Electronics itself
was acquired by Schneider Electric, a global
leader in automation and power equipment.
Schneider Electric collaborated with PDL
Electronics’ expertise in R&D and application
knowledge to create the next generation of
drives. The resulting launches of the Altivar 71
and then Altivar 61 ranges in 2005 under the
Telemecanique brand enabled Schneider Electric,
for the 1st time, to offer a truly global VSD range
built with the essence of the PDL Electronics
mantra, supported by the same dedication to
service and expertise.
These completely new ranges have now forged
their own brand built on quality, performance
and ease of use, from which future Altivar and
Altistart products will grow. Even today a number
of formerly PDL Electronics staff can be found
within Schneider Electric, here in New Zealand
and abroad, in roles including sales, service,
engineering, technical support and management.
Today, Schneider Electric continues to build on
this legacy with best in class products, solutions
and services. In the last four years they have
launched five new ranges of drives, a new
range of soft starters and expanded the offer
into specialised markets, such as launching a
dedicated HVAC drive for use in commercial
buildings. A full suite of factory engineered
drive solutions is available to perfectly meet any
application or specification requirements, as well
as offering Water-cooled Drives, Low Harmonics
Drives, Medium Voltage Drives and Active
Harmonic solutions.
Service
Schneider Electric Services has taken the
commitment made famous by PDL Electronics
to the next level. While in the past the focus was
reactive at the product level, today the services
offer has been expanded to encompass complete
life cycle management, not only for drives,
but for many other electrical devices critical to
keeping production going 24/7. Schneider Electric
Services can help identify risks to production
within a customer’s plant, while proposing
the most effective OPEX spend, allowing the
customer to leverage our expertise, mitigating the
risk of unexpected downtime.
Schneider Electric has also invested heavily in
workshop and test bay facilities so that all drives
(including PDL Electronics brand) are load tested
after repair, and the customer has full confidence
that the product is ready to be put back in
service. They carry over $3M worth of drives, soft
starters and comprehensive spares, including
PDL Electronics’ drives spares in New Zealand.
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