Where It Needs to Be

By Paula Zangari

We all have a variety of technical jobs to perform here at UCEC. Our quoting team works at the beginning of our projects. Our ordering team makes sure parts are in the warehouse at the start of a job. Assembly and Wiring teams create the well-crafted panels we’ve been known for since 1958. And finally, our QC team steps in for the final panel testing.

Paula Zangari

It’s a well-oiled machine, but even with experienced hands in place, sometimes there’s a rush on a part. It’s one of my new responsibilities: Getting “emergency” parts where they need to be.

A few months ago, I started acting as UCEC’s unofficial “911 operator.” I’m the one to call if the shop needs a part immediately. I’m kidding about the 911 part, but sometimes, there’s an urgency to our daily shop work.

Fun fact: Find out why Paula is also called “The Dragonslayer.”

Parts can be needed on short notice for several reasons. A customer might change their mind about a part and we’ll need to get it quickly. Or a PLC card might be delivered unwilling to power up. A part could arrive in the warehouse broken. Or perhaps a part was missed in the schematics when the Bill of Materials was created.

Whatever the reason, it’s my job to get the part to the panel. We have a variety of tools: overnight shipping; driving to the vendor to pick up the part; or having the vendor hand-deliver to us. Just recently, we overnighted an important part and installed it the next day. Hours later, the panel was loaded up to ship to the customer. Win!

I enjoy my new responsibilities, because as the warehouse manager, I’m already immersed in our projects and where our parts need to be. I think my efforts in this manner are already paying off as I see patterns emerge with our processes.

The end goal is always to help the customers receive their panels in a timely manner. We’re going to tweak our processes until we’re satisfied, because when we do that, we deliver the very best experience to our customers.  

Paula is an Operations Support Manager at UCEC.

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