Product category:
Industrial Drives/Controls
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors)
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 22 March 2000
Strategic partners announced for ABB
drives
ABB has hand picked seven strategic partners who will form the backbone of the most advanced drives supply and service network in the UK.
ABB has hand picked seven strategic partners who will form the backbone of the most advanced drives supply and service network in the UK Called the ABB Drives Alliance, the group will offer unprecedented levels of availability, delivery, service and support not previously obtainable in the UK marketplace
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 8 Feb 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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The ABB Drives Alliance consists of EDC in Scotland, Slater Drive Systems in the North, Halcyon Drives in Yorkshire and Manchester, Central Electrical in Merseyside and Cheshire, Sentridge Control in the Midlands, Arcontrol in the South East and Gibbons Drive Systems in East Anglia.
"At the heart of our alliance is the fact that improving the basics is as important as introducing new concepts," says James Haigh, Drives Manager at ABB Automation.
"The ABB Drives Alliance focuses on these basics by providing readily available stock, highly competitive pricing, easy ordering, rapid delivery, on-site support, tailored training programmes, the most thorough spares and repairs centres and much more.
Each has been chosen for their extensive drives and application knowledge and understanding of customers specific needs." The ABB Drives Alliance offers: The largest European stock availability - The ABB Drives Alliance has one of the largest stocks of off-the-shelf AC drives in Europe, with drives between 0.12kW and 250kW instantly available.
Supporting the UK network are central European stock locations holding in excess of ?10 million worth of AC drives.
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Each ABB Drives Alliance partner is able to access up-to-the-minute central stock information using ABB's on-line extranet service called Component SCOT.
Drives knowledge - Each ABB Drives Alliance partner is a specialist in variable speed drives and is fully trained and updated daily by ABB on issues like harmonics, energy saving, EMC legislation and bearing currents.
Each is capable of carrying out the following: Optimised drive selection Harmonic calculations Energy efficiency and energy saving audits Motor management plans Localised customer training - Each alliance partner has dedicated training facilities, approved and audited by ABB.
Individually tailored courses are available covering product familiarisation, programming, software support tools, start-up procedures and fault finding.
The UK's most efficient delivery - Off-the-shelf availability of product allows it to be delivered instantly, anywhere within the UK.
Models up to 37kW can be delivered within 90 minutes, subject to a small charge.
Repair and spares - All the ABB Drives Alliance partners have their own repair centres.
For field repairs, each alliance partner has three fully stocked diagnostic suitcases, containing key drive components, providing the ultimate in spares availability.
To ensure rapid repairs are carried out, a suite of software tools is also provided.
DriveSupport gives interactive guidance to identifying, locating and fixing any faults, and DriveWindow is a commissioning tool that ensures the drive is brought quickly and efficiently on stream.
On-line ordering and help - through its web site dedicated to low voltage AC drives, customers can configure and select their product, download any brochures, manuals and other documentation and even place an order using a credit card or by opening an account.
The site can be accessed at www.comp-ac.co.uk.
24/ 365, dedicated local service and support - Each alliance partner is open for business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using a message paging system outside normal office hours.
Technical queries can be handled rapidly with the ABB Drives Alliance partners having the backing of ABB's own Query Escalation Process.
Experts on call, and located throughout the world, are systematically contacted until any query is identified and resolved.
"ABB Drives Alliance is the next logical step in the development of our sales and support network and gives customers much greater access to ABB through regional satellites," says Haigh.
The drives knowledge of each partner is inspected rigorously to ensure technical compliance with ABB's high standards.
Every year, each partner is technically audited to ensure the highest standards are maintained.
"ABB is one of the leaders in industrial eCommerce, having the first true eCommerce site through Comp-AC.
But without a very well planned back office, then ordering a drive in three minutes is pointless if it takes three weeks to deliver," adds Haigh.
"ABB Drives Alliance recognises this and provides a thorough logistics infrastructure as well as unrivalled added value support.".
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