Recent Product Development News

The mid-summer increase in control panel projects began with an urgent call from a national food manufacturer requiring the immediate fabrication of a control panel for a HVAC system at a facility they were expanding. The scope of this control system was not included with the associated contracts for the expansion, and it became the singular critical path item when it was determined that it was needed to operate the expanded manufacturing facility. The lead time of the specified components became a critical factor in panel delivery. 4CITE obtained the needed components as soon as possible with the engineering team's ability to supply equivalent component options and the procurement team's aptitude to work within both our supply chain and the customer's established national account supply chain. Concurrently, the panel manufacturing was started with all the immediately available components and mounting templates utilized that allowed immediate placement and connections of the pre-run wiring when the final components arrived. The detailed testing and configuration performed on the control system during and immediately following manufacturing allowed the panel to be installed and used without any additional on-site troubleshooting delays. Since that experience, 4CITE has performed several other control and power distribution projects for this client throughout the third quarter of 2010.

The third quarter of 2010 also brought expanded business for the controls and automation group at 4CITE from two other clients due primarily to the timely completion of projects. One customer had an electrical design submittal due for a government contract to build three custom pieces of equipment. Although they have their own electrical engineering and design employees, they didn't have the capacity to meet the deadline. The 4CITE controls group was contacted on a Wednesday, met with the customer on Thursday to get the project specifications and design requirements, and worked through the weekend to have the completed electrical design submittal completed and organized by the Monday deadline.

Another customer was concerned about the ability of their usual electrical panel manufacturers to fabricate the control systems they designed for a time sensitive project. 4CITE won the initial control system with a competitive bid and schedule guarantee, but the additional benefits that were realized by 4CITE being more than a fabrication and panel manufacturing shop is what is winning their additional business. The pre-fabrication engineering reviews led to several value added improvements to the customer's standard control designs. Several enhancements were also incorporated into the programming of the human machine interface displays based upon the recommendations of 4CITE to improve the layout and navigation for the end user. This customer commented on the highly professional quality level of not only the end product, but the supporting quality assurance testing and project documentation. The success of the electrical control project has led to an expanded scope on following projects to include full operational unit manufacturing.

Continuing to add value to its current and future customers, 4CITE has used its increased demand in control components to improve negotiated prices on Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) components and equipment. By passing these savings through to our customers, 4CITE plans to continue providing custom control and automation solutions for economical costs that, in turn, help our customer's growth and our mutual success.