The UK construction sector makes up 6% of the total economic output, contributing approximately £117billion to the national economy. Over recent years the sector has also embraced the country’s growing farming industry, working together to support smart agriculture trends and meet environmental policies.

With a national focus on this burgeoning market, leading manufacturers of construction and agriculture have experienced significant growth. Some have reported over 20% in the last two years. Despite the current climate and barriers presented by Covid-19, the industry remains buoyant. The most successful continue to push boundaries of manufacturing, delivering innovative new equipment solutions to support the ever-changing construction landscape.

This has inevitably placed great strain on existing production facilities as new technologies and processes have had to be adopted. Resilient manufacturing infrastructures are at the core of efficient delivery and as such require optimum engineering and maintenance.

Often overlooked, is power protection and the impact that the loss of power could have to a manufacturing plant. The reality is that power disruptions can result in £thousands in downtime. Not only this, but power loss can also be very damaging to sensitive equipment.

Helping the industry meet its power protection responsibilities is leading UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) solutions provider Power Control Ltd.

With a relationship spanning over 14 years, Power Control is proud to work closely with one of the largest global manufacturers of construction equipment to build up its powerful critical infrastructure.

Power Control has replaced, installed, and now maintains over 20 UPS systems across every UK site. Due to the nature of this specialist manufacturing industry, the power protection requirements are vast, with a plethora of processes requiring power continuity. The necessity of having a robust power infrastructure is therefore critical to ensuring that operations run smoothly.

Power Control initially took over the maintenance of third-party UPS systems at the manufacturer’s head office. Following a site survey, which included a thorough lifecycle report, it was apparent that the backup equipment had reached end of life and recommendations were made to replace the UPS units for more efficient and reliable solutions.

Power Control’s national contracts manager, Sam Rea, commented: “in an industry where any fluctuation in power could result in costly downtime and materials being wasted, a reliable power infrastructure is paramount.

“A UPS plays a vital role in not only providing emergency power during a mains outage, it will also reduce wear and tear of machinery parts, thereby reducing downtime and maintenance costs.

“Our UPS systems are specifically designed to handle high inrush current demands for motors, robotics and drives, operate at higher temperatures and offer inbuilt dust filters. In a harsh environment such as that of a manufacturing site, this can make the difference between a reliable backup power supply and an UPS failure.”

Now installed are x4 C500 10kVA and x1 C400R 3kVA from the single phase CertaUPS range to support onsite IT and server rooms. The C500 is an extremely versatile online double conversion UPS that can be installed with internal batteries as standard, removing the need for external battery cabinets and maximising floor space. The C400R also boasts online double conversion technology but in a rackmount form, only requiring 2U of rack space. Although ideal for server racks, the flexible UPS also comes with ‘feet’ and can be turned into a floor standing unit.

Following the success of the work carried out at the head office, the construction equipment manufacturer tasked Power Control with surveying some of their other UK sites, where additional UPS systems were also found to be unreliable, oversized or end of life. Recommendations were made to replace these with three phase Borri B9000, B8000 and B8300 at their parts logistics and larger manufacturing production sites.

The Borri B8000 and B8300 static UPS systems both benefit from a slimline frame, offering extremely small dimensions and one of the smallest footprints in the range. This makes them an ideal solution for the manufacturing industry where additional floor space is at a premium.

The transformer based B9000 is housed in a rugged unit and can be customised for specific process applications. The optimised system configurations make them an ideal UPS system for machine tooling and process control devices such as those found in manufacturing.

The new installations provide the construction equipment manufacturer with the power flexibility and reliability needed across all their applications.

As a multivendor UPS maintenance provider and following the seamless upgrade process, Power Control was awarded maintenance contracts across all UK sites and was able to accommodate the needs of different maintenance cover levels. In addition, as Power Control is a manufacturing partner of Borri and CertaUPS, the company is an authorised UPS service partner for both.

All of Power Control’s engineers are provided with factory training and are backed by a company that has nearly 30 years of experience in providing maintenance and servicing for emergency power solutions. The nationwide engineers are available to provide immediate assistance 24/7 and work across all business sectors.

For more information about UPS solutions Power Control supplies, or the maintenance contracts, please contact 01246431431 or to find out more about Power Control’s other emergency backup products and services, please visit www.powercontrol.co.uk