What comes to mind when you think of the heart of your business?
● The culture?
● The people?
● Your product?
● Amazing customer service?
Sure, these things all contribute to your business but do they keep it running? At Kapcher, when we think about the heart of your business, our minds go straight to the switchboard as part of commercial building inspections.
“Huh…?” you might say.
What else keeps your company running day and night, powers your computer at the office, keeps your machinery up and running and lighting throughout your facility? So why is it that the switchboard is the last thing we think about when keeping the company up and running? Without electricity our businesses couldn’t run. Think about it – what would happen to your business if you lost power? Computers shut down, machinery stalls and all productivity for the day stops. Sure everyone in the office looks at it as a great excuse to call it a day and head home. Whilst this is all going on, you scramble to find an electrician who can come at the drop of a hat without costing you an arm and a leg. You overhear the horror conversation of your IT team freaking out about the UPS keeping your network alive that only has 30 minutes of backup time and you still haven’t found a bloody electrician!!! Sure, these can all be fixed and are inconvenient “but these things happen”.
Well we don’t agree.
We couldn’t think of anything worse then getting a phone call in the middle of the night from the fire brigade explaining to you that there was an electrical fault and the office complex or factory is non-existent, and that’s it, everything you have worked on for so many years is gone in a heartbeat.
So what can be done to prevent this from happening? A little bit of tender loving care is all that’s needed. Having 6-12 month or even quarterly switchboard inspections as part of your building management plan can save you time, money and a lot of stress. We cannot tell you the number of times we have found something in really bad shape that is days or even hours away from a catastrophic situation. By performing regular building inspections, our team were able capture issues in advance before they got out of control.
A regular switchboard inspection routine is something every business should invest in. We are able to give you an insight to a world you cannot see with the naked eye. The infrared world is a crucial part in understanding how your equipment is running and can help catch an issue before it becomes dangerous. Increase the safety throughout the building knowing that your equipment is running as it should be.
Check out this example. Do you see anything wrong here? Let’s be honest, probably not. Overall the board is in great shape, except for one small thing we cannot see.
In comes the FLIR camera.
BOOM! Lit up like a Christmas tree. See in the top right corner there? The contactor is sitting close to 100 degrees and is causing some serious damage.
Let’s take a closer look at the contractor. At first glance, we can see the discolouring on the top half of the unit but not much else. If we look closer, you can see the heat damage to the small brown cable on the bottom left. This cable should not have white dots on it, this is a clear sign of some major heat damage.
Looking at the contactor again, you can see further signs of heat damage. Along with the brown cable, we have melting plastic of internal parts as pointed out with the red arrows. There is limited time before this thing either catches fire or fails completely. This is what building inspections and management reduce the risk of.
Now think again about what keeps your business running. Does the switchboard power your main money making machine or the power points inside the operating theatre? The issue in our example was resolved in less than 24 hours. We were able to shut down the equipment safely, isolate the problem to prevent any further damage and replace the part to prevent a disastrous outcome. A regular inspection is a simple way to take care of the heart of your business and make sure it is beating correctly. If you’re interested in how new tech just like this is being utilised in the building space, check out our article on point clouds being used by architects.
If this has made you think about things a little differently and you want to learn more, reach out. We are always happy to talk and provide you with our professional advice on what could work best for you.