“Everyone in this company understands the way we perform in shutdowns establishes our relationships with our customers. They trust us to do some of their most critical work and they trust us to have the plant ready to go back into production at the time we have agreed upon. It doesn’t come without the responsibility taken seriously from every person in this company.” ~Mike Davis, President
When Hill Electric is preparing for a plant shutdown for Upstate, SC customers, most of the time the team knows what the shutdown is going to require days or weeks before arriving on-site. Shutdowns can be as simple as a several hour job like upgrading electrical machinery, all the way to a week-long job with 12-14 hour days removing everything that brings power to a plant and completely re-building it.
Leading up to shutdowns, Hill Electric management works internally to ensure the right workforce with the right skill set have completed the right training and are ready. In addition to ensuring the crew is ready, Hill Electric checks that the proper equipment and tools needed for the job are available and working properly. Sometimes, work can even be done ahead of time before arriving on-site. Our team is currently planning for a shutdown in Greenville, SC area and doing prep work now, like installing cable trays and prepping electrical cables for the work that needs to be done.
Management meets with the customers to discuss what might be going on simultaneously in the plant during the shutdown, so the Hill Electric team can be aware and mindful while they are working. Because shutdowns are critical and delays in production can cost manufacturing companies millions of dollars, the Hill Electric management team discusses up-front what needs to happen for a successful shutdown and agrees upon a time frame with the customer.
“In a lot of cases, we are the sign off with the customers on whether or not jobs can be done in the timeframes that they have proposed. We will evaluate it and tell them if we can or cannot make it happen. We’re honest with them and do this on the frontend to avoid mishaps later on,” says Mike Davis.
Our team at Hill Electric understands the importance of error free work under tight deadlines. We’re dedicated to building trust with our customers and meeting their schedules during shutdowns.
“When we finish the job hours before the deadline, that’s when customers decide they want to keep us around,” concluded Trey Thomas, Vice President.
