Technical Services

Call or email us with the error message, a photo of the screen, and what the machine was doing when it stopped. A specialist calls you back, usually the same day. Many faults get solved from there: a procedure to clear an alarm, a sensor adjustment, a logic change. If it needs hands on the machine, we schedule a visit. For equipment we represent, we can bring in the manufacturer's own engineers too.

Onsite timing depends on what we already have booked, so when you call we give you a straight answer on dates. For planned work like a retrofit or a scheduled outage, the earlier you book, the easier it is to line up the dates. If the full job has to wait, we can often start with a web meeting to get the technical work moving.

We provide onsite technical services across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. For project work we travel further than that, into California and beyond. If your plant is outside that area, call us and we'll tell you plainly whether we can take the job.

Yes. We regularly work on installed equipment we didn't supply, including machines coming back out of storage. Send us the make, model, and what it's doing. We'll tell you whether we can handle it ourselves or whether the manufacturer's own support is the faster route, and help you reach them.

Yes. When you buy equipment through us, we can quote the installation trip on the same proposal as its own line, so you decide. Onsite, we set the machine up, commission the controls and safety functions, and walk your team through every adjustment. Before we leave you get a written summary: what we did, the settings as left, and anything still open, such as final tuning once your production tooling arrives.

The more we know ahead of time, the shorter the visit. Send the machine's make and model, photos of the panel and nameplates, any drawings or manuals you have, and a copy of the current program if there is one. For an install, have power, air, and floor space ready and your electricians briefed on the plan. We'll tell you what else your job needs when we schedule it.

Yes. We start by learning what's there: an evaluation visit to review the code, the hardware, and how the machine actually runs. From that we write a quote with a defined scope and deliverables, so everyone agrees on what finished means. Remaining work usually splits between offsite programming and onsite testing and commissioning, and we bill the time actually used.

Yes. Much of our service work sits inside a project someone else runs: extra technical hours for an integrator, a subcontract under a prime contractor, or a few days next to your own maintenance and engineering staff. We follow the program structure and standards you already use, so the new code matches the rest of your plant.

Three things usually decide it: replacement parts get hard to find, nobody on staff can change the program, or breakdowns start costing more than an upgrade would. A PLC or HMI the manufacturer no longer makes is the most common trigger. We can survey the machine and tell you what's obsolete, what can stay, and what an upgrade would involve, so you can schedule the work for a planned outage.

Yes. Retrofits start with a survey: we look at the machine, do the electrical design, and turn that into a firm hardware list and price. You can approve the design hours first and decide on hardware once the design is done. Then we stage the cutover around your outage to keep the line down as briefly as we can. Guarding and light-curtain upgrades follow the same path.

It depends on the scope, and we estimate it when we scope the job. We do as much as we can before the outage: the design, the panels, and the code are done and checked ahead of time, so the time on your floor goes to the changeover and commissioning. Then we plan the cutover around your production schedule.

Allen-Bradley, Omron, FANUC, and Wonderware cover most of our work, along with the controllers on the equipment we represent. That includes PLC logic, HMI screens, safety programming, motion, and robot programs. If your line runs something else, tell us what's on the floor and we'll tell you plainly whether it's a fit.

Yes. We do the electrical design: one-line diagrams, load calculations, I/O allocation, wiring and terminal schedules, safety circuits, and disconnect and lockout provisions. We can draw on your title block and follow your preferred-vendor list. Panels are built to our drawings, and we commission them onsite. You get the drawings and a bill of materials with the finished work.

Yes. Training happens at handoff, on your machine: we walk operators and maintenance through startup, adjustments, alarms, and recovery, and leave the manual behind. For deeper topics on equipment we represent, we can set up sessions with the manufacturer's engineers and join you for them.

Yes. Documentation comes with the job. Depending on scope that means electrical drawings, a bill of materials, red-lined as-built drawings, and an operator manual written for the people running the machine. When the code or HMI changes later, we update the manual and note what changed at the front. We can also write a manual for a system someone else built. That takes longer, since we learn the machine first, usually with some time onsite.

Yes. Tell us your requirements when you request the quote: vendor setup, safety orientation, badging, or a certificate of insurance. We handle the paperwork up front and show up with what your site asks for.

We quote it. Most service work runs time and materials: we estimate the offsite technical hours and the onsite days, you approve the quote, and we bill the time actually used. If a requested change will add hours, we tell you before we do it. If your procurement team needs a defined scope, deliverables, or rates broken out by task, we can build the quote that way.