EECO now buys old, obsolete PLCs, Servos, Electronics, and more!

Just want to let everyone know that our Automation Services capabilities just keep growing!  We now offer electronics repair solutions and inventory buybacks – Today, I want to talk about the inventory part of it.  If your facility is housing thousands, if not millions of dollars in electronics that have never seen use or have just been obsoleted, you definitely want to give us a call.  We now buy back all kinds of industrial goods that can eventually have use somewhere else.  Take a look here on our website and learn more! http://www.eecoonline.com/inventory-buybacks

Test your ballasts, lamps, and pins all together with the Milwaukee Flourescent Lighting Tester!

In February we’ll begin selling a great new product from Milwaukee that solves many of the pains our customers endure when troubleshooting their overhead lighting – especially when a ladder is needed to get to the fixture!

The Milwaukee 2210-20 Fluorescent Lighting Tester is a new to world tool that tests fluorescent lighting fixtures and cuts troubleshooting time in half. The Fluorescent Lighting Tester delivers complete Lamp, Ballast and Pin testing. Test Lamps before or after installing, and test without dismantling the fixtures.

Recognized for its innovation, the 2210-20 Fluorescent Lighting Tester will dramatically improve the productivity of professional electricians and maintenance technicians. Instead of a “replace and hope” strategy, users can test their lighting fixtures faster and easier. The 2210-20 Fluorescent Lighting Tester solves a top residential, commercial and industrial application.

The 2210-20 Fluorescent Lighting Tester contains the Fluorescent Lighting Tester, soft carry case, antenna adapter, manual, (4) AA Batteries.

Keep your workers informed with a Red Lion productivity station!

Red Lion’s ProducTVity Station lets you create your own
sophisticated production scoreboard using standard,
consumer-grade LCD, LED or plasma TVs you can
purchase for less than $500.
■ Built-in communications drivers and protocol
conversion let you interface to most PLCs, drives,
motion controllers and other automation equipment
■ Requires no dedicated PCs, SCADA or OPC Server
■ Automatically page between multiple screens of KPI,
trends, Andon, messaging and more
■ Powerful programming capabilities with included
Crimson software lets you customize solutions to your
exact requirements or as needs change
■ Complete internet-ready with built in Web and FTP
servers for remote access and control
For a limited time, receive a 42″ TV with your order!  Call any North Carolina service center today for more information!

Quality matters right down to the receptacle hub in your control panels.

Panel builders that we supply have had a lot of success with a little company known for their high quality receptacle hubs, and it’s fascinating to see just how many different configurations are available from them.

Grace Engineered recently came out with a 4 in 1 USB Hub.  To quote Grace directly:

This industrial GracePort® USB four-port hub provides for reliable communication with USB peripherals both inside or outside a control panel. High retention USB connectors ensure that even the physical connection remains intact in a variety of industrial environments.

High ESD protection provides long life in electrically harsh environments. Full speed (480 Mbps) USB 2.0 support allows connectivity with the latest computer technology. The high retention USB ports on the upstream and downstream connections are compatible with standard off-the-shelf USB cables and do not come loose during operation. When installed in your system, the USB hub appears as a non-branded USB hub.

Have you seen our product offerings from Grace?  You should check them out at www.graceport.com

You can read more about the 4 in 1 Hub here.

Doing more with less: streamlining your inventory to match your output

Most companies this day can use the catchphrase “doing more with less” more and more every day, along with other fun sayings like consistently inconsistent. In this economy we all strive to succeed and make the biggest impact within our company that we can. I know on a personal level I try to give all I can to help my company and our customers companies find ways to save money and make the most efficient business decisions that impact the bottom line or help reach the desired results. One of the programs/tools that EECO/Rockwell Automation has to offer our customers to be more cost efficient is the Parts Management Agreement. Most companies these days are reducing Inventory levels to decrease operating cost and increase cash flow. The PMA (Parts Management Agreement) targets more than these two common concerns.

It allows our customers to take advantage of not owning the physical Inventory which decreases tax dollars on owned Inventory…this is a hard fence line to follow since having the right material is absolutely necessary but too much is excessive expenditure. It also allows the PMA Inventory to change when the Plant Floor migrates/changes technology. Technology changes every year and with new equipment being brought into our plant floors every year it means spending money each year on Inventory which increases Operational Cost. The PMA protects this from happening since the PMA can change with your plant floor and you don’t have to spend capital money to invest each year in Inventory changes. When you migrate away from older Technology your PMA Inventory changes and gets replaced by the equivalent that is now on your plant floor. This is money saved…you don’t have to throw away/write off excess inventory. Nor do you have to go thru the troubles of selling it on E-bay at 20% of the price you have invested. As we all know every item in Inventory has a warranty clock and it starts ticking on the day of purchase but with the PMA your warranty clock doesn’t start ticking until you put it into service. Yes, that is a true statement…item “X”s warranty will not start until you put it into service…this could be 4 years down the road after our PMA equipment is on site at your facility. All we need is to be advised when you pull your item out of the PMA and we will replace it with a new/remanufactured unit. We just ask that you return the failed unit, this saves you money and keeps you from actually purchasing the item…you just pay remanufactured prices. This item “X” would normally be replaced within 24 hours so your PMA inventory stays at a safe level based upon your needs. Typical PMA length terms are 3 or 5 years. What you do at the end of the PMA is totally up to you. You have three options…1)Renew at nearly 50% of the cost you have been paying monthly…2)Buy out the items at a reduced price…3)Ship the items back to us and we shake hands and call the PMA quits. I have personally never seen Option 3 elected but there is a first for everything.

The cost of a PMA is minimal compared to not having the right Inventory or even “working” Inventory. Many times I see my customers go to their Spare Parts Room and realize their replacement part is really not in a working condition whether that be to shelf life or someone put a bad part back in a “good box”. Fun fact…63% of MRO Inventory is classified as excessive or inactive. By leveraging the PMA we can actually turn your Maintenance budget into profit. There is an equation for Return On Net Assets (RONA), it is (Plant Revenue-Cost)/(Net Assets). All of our goals are to increase our Plant Revenue and decrease Cost no matter how many Net Assets we have. The PMA helps reduce/stabilize Maintenance budgets and reduce unplanned downtime while increasing availability and quality. This is doing more with less. For more information about a PMA please see this link on Rockwell Automations website… http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/pp/gmsa10-pp005_-en-e.pdf And of course feel free to call me at any time for detailed information on a PMA.