FINE PRINT Business briefs you can’t miss
Utility Partners of America completes call center upgrades Utility Partners of America (UPA), a utility service contractor and professional services firm, recently completed an enterprise-level upgrade of its call center systems in Greenville. According to a news release, the enterprise-level upgrade features a fully customized, secure, dedicated
VOIP system and dynamic dialer with redundant data systems hosted in separate facilities with redundant security to protect customer information. The upgrade has allowed for UPA to increase its call center employee base by more than 250 percent in the past 18 months and plans to at least
State DOC awards $13M in Community Development Block Grants Communities across the state are slated to benefit from public improvement projects supported by nearly $13.3 million in funds from the latest round of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The South Carolina Department of Commerce is awarding CDBG funds to 24 local municipalities, representing 12,591 residents, for improvement projects. The DOC awards CDBG funds each fall and spring. Selected through a statewide competitive process, local governments receiving CDBG funding are required to provide at least a 10 percent match in funding to complete the projects. Grant funds are allocated annually to South Carolina from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of Commerce administers the CDBG program on the state’s behalf. CDBG assists communities in providing housing, a suitable living environment and expanded economic opportunities. All grants awarded through the CDBG program must meet at least one of three objectives, says the DOC: • Benefit low- and moderate-income persons.
UPSTATE COMMUNITIES RECEIVING CDBG FUNDS: CITY OF EASLEY: West End Sewer Upgrade, $719,475 CITY OF GREENWOOD: Water Upgrade, $487,700 GREENWOOD COUNTY: Sullivan Sewer Upgrade, $700,000 TOWN OF IVA: Water Tank, $750,000 TOWN OF JONESVILLE: Alman Street Water & Sewer Upgrade, $547,093 LAURENS COUNTY: Joanna Mill Water & Sewer Upgrade, $387,295 TOWN OF LOCKHART: Sewer Upgrade, $607,290 CITY OF UNION: May Street Sewer Upgrade, $343,490
• Aid in the prevention or elimination of slums and blighting conditions. • Meet other urgent community development needs where existing conditions pose a serious and immediate threat to public health and welfare, and where other financial resources are not readily available to meet such needs. For more information, visit cdbgsc.com.
double it again by the end of 2015, officials said. However, the hiring surge will require UPA to expand its South Carolina-based physical plant in the next six to 12 months.
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is also an outage simulator, which allows designers to design real-world outage processes for the turbines in the field. The integrated campus has been an advantage, allowing design engineers and production to be on the same site, so new products can be developed, manufactured and tested on the same campus, she said. The repair business also offers valuable feedback. “The engineers who are designing the new parts can step into the next building and see the parts that have come back from the field [for repair]. There’s a hard-wired feedback loop there,” said Martin. “It’s pretty powerful and unique.” Shane Long echoed the value of the novelty process. “We get a total life-cycle look at the product. We get to learn very quickly what our hardware is capable of.”
FOR THE FUTURE GE is keenly aware of the need for skilled manufacturing employees and revived a long-dormant machine apprenticeship program two years ago with Greenville Technical College In May, the first group graduated from the two-year program. “The skill of our workforce is critically important,” Martin said. “Everyone knows that part of their job is to figure out a better way – continuous improvement in safety, quality, cost and cycle. That’s part of
July 11, 2014
UPA helps utilities install automated meters, AMI networks and load reduction equipment. The company also helps utilities sell and manage regulated and deregulated products and services including home warranty service contracts, demand response programs and more, according to the release.
➤ BY THE NUMBERS
2,400° 1.4 million 100,000+ 300,000
temperature inside a turbine (Fahrenheit)
square feet in GE’s Upstate facility
number of parts in a GE gas turbine
average number of homes a GE gas turbine can power
$500,000 24,000 hours 250 3,350 1,200 250 250+
cost of one wheel on a turbine rotor
estimated life of a rotor
original size of workforce in 1968
number of employees currently
number of skilled technicians in the plant
salaried employees in the plant
number of customers who visit the plant annually
the culture.” In addition, Long said the facility will soon be home to the recently announced Advanced Manufacturing Works, which will not only offer the best manufacturing capability for the gas turbine division, but for all of the Power and Water division: wind turbines, nuclear, steam turbines and water.
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