Partner Spotlight: LDIS
Final panel destination. Photos courtesy of LDIS.
By Mark Inboden
LDIS (Layout Design and Installation Services) has been working with UCEC for more than 20 years, so it’s my pleasure to tell you a little more about this Arvada, CO engineering and design firm. Our two companies enjoy a certain synergy, of sorts: they also employ an open-door, no-bureaucracy policy like UCEC.
On-site programming.
Tom Dreher, Senior Instrumentation-Electrical Designer at LDIS, tells me that LDIS is an organization with “few layers.” When clients call, they can easily access their project manager (who may also be their designer). Decisions can be made quickly, without excess executive layers to slow things up. Sounds a lot like UCEC! Our two firms are known for customer service, which starts with making sure customers can ask questions whenever they need to.
LDIS was formed 12 years ago by Ben Schwenk with a focus on piping and mechanical design. Over the years, the firm has expanded to include more markets and industries, including design for civil/structural, electrical, instrumentation and controls. LDIS has four full-time engineers on staff who are licensed in 10-plus states.
The 42-person LDIS has a “small company” environment that makes customers feel at home, says Kyle Thornton, I&E Project Lead. LDIS customers frequently stop in on their way to or from work in downtown Denver. Sometimes, Kyle or Tom takes customers over to nearby UCEC to watch the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) for their panels. “We give them a demonstration and they can see that everything is wired as it should be,” Kyle says. “If the customer is out of town, I can take pictures so they see the panel in advance before it arrives.”
“There’s a comfort level with UCEC,” Tom says. “UCEC once let our electrical engineer (Britta Thornton) come in the shop and pre-program a VFD prior to shipping to the field, and it saved the client money and effort. UCEC spent time installing the electrical connections for this and other tests; they never hesitate to fulfill these special requests.”
User-friendly panels are important to LDIS, so they often turn to UCEC, even doing “direct awards” when there isn’t time to bid a panel job. “Our clients know UCEC and they know what they’re getting,” Tom notes. “And our clients know we trust UCEC, too.”
“I’ve never had a bad experience with UCEC. Their price is always competitive and they are honest about their turnaround. When they say they are going to do something, they do it. ”
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More and more customers are asking for a UL listing, so I think it’s going to become standardized in the future. Many customers know the care we put into our panels, and they know the UL listing will be a good factor in their project.