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How We Got a Critical Farm Drive Back Up and Running

When Downtime Can’t Wait – How We Got a Critical Farm Drive Back Up and Running It was a very hot Saturday afternoon when the phone rang at Avon Controls. A transformer issue on a farm had caused a short circuit fault and damaged a variable speed drive. Normally, a failed drive is inconvenient. In this case, it was a little more important. The drive was controlling a pump being used to spray potatoes, and the farm supplies two of the UK's major supermarket chains with potatoes throughout the year. With the weather as hot as it was, leaving the system out of action until Monday wasn't really an option. First job – get them through the weekend We started by providing technical support over the phone to understand exactly what had happened and what options we had. Within two hours of the initial phone call, we'd helped put a temporary solution in place that got the pump back up and running. It wasn't the permanent fix, but it meant the customer could continue operating over the weekend. And that bought us the time we needed to sort the problem properly on Monday. Monday morning – time for the permanent solution First thing Monday morning, we allocated a replacement drive from Avon Controls stock. Rather than putting it on a carrier and hoping everything went smoothly, we took the drive directly to the customer's site in Ross-on-Wye. The on-site engineer installed the new hardware, but we didn't just drop the drive off and leave them to it. We stuck around. Once the drive had been installed, Avon Controls commissioned it on site, making sure everything was configured correctly and the system was operating as it should. By the time we left, the pump was back up and running properly. “They made our problem their problem” For me, the best part of the job was the feedback afterwards. Ben, the on-site engineer, said: “We were really impressed with the response time and customer experience provided by Avon Controls. They made our problem their problem and got us back up and running so quickly. If ever we have any site breakdowns in the future, the first call we make will be to them.” “They made our problem their problem.” I think that sums up exactly what we're trying to achieve at Avon Controls. We're obviously here to supply drives, controls and automation equipment. But when someone's production has stopped, they don't really care about receiving another quotation or being told a replacement can be delivered sometime next week. They've got a problem that needs solving. In this case, that meant answering the phone on a Saturday, helping find a temporary solution to get them through the weekend, allocating a replacement drive from stock on Monday, taking it to site and staying there until we knew it was working. And there was one final bonus... Just as we were getting ready to leave, the owner of the farm came over to thank us. He was so pleased to have everything running again that he sent us away with a little something for the journey home. Not a bad way to finish the job! Got a critical VSD breakdown? Breakdowns don't tend to happen at convenient times. If you've got a critical variable speed drive (VSD) breakdown and need help getting your plant or machinery back up and running, give Avon Controls a call. We'll do everything we can to find the quickest practical solution and help reduce your downtime. Avon ControlsPhone: 0117 427 8956Email: sales@avoncontrols.co.uk