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Global shifts and expands its production facilities in Calgary
Global Thermoelectric has always been about teamwork. But it's challenging to work on the game plan when your teammate is 140 kilometres away. And that's one of the reasons why Global reconfigured production space in its southeast Calgary headquarters - developing a spacious, ultra-efficient, state-of-the-art production area for its custom-built remote power systems.
The facility consists of 5,600 square feet of actual production floor, with another 1,300 square feet of new office space. And it allows Global's engineering and production teams to work together to build custom systems for clients around the globe. "From a production point of view, it's wonderful knowing you can just step into the engineering area, tap someone on the shoulder, and within 30 seconds, you can both be out on the production floor, having a look at any issues or resolving things very quickly," says Troy Rederburg, the plant manager for Calgary's new production facility.
"Historically, we had done all of our systems out of Bassano," a town southeast of Calgary, adds Rederburg. "In the past, if we had any issues during integration or testing, or if our engineers wanted to see how their system was coming together, they would have to drive down, which is an hour-plus one way. In some cases, they were doing that quite often. "Now, it's simply 30 steps out to the shop floor."
The custom systems production facility took shape between September 2008 and February 2009, as Global relocated its customer service and development engineering departments in order to open up a clean, bright, state-of-the-art operation that would house even the most ambitious remote power projects.
The facility was overhauled with new lighting and electrical systems, as well as new HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) systems that allow natural gas and propane systems to be operated indoors for testing. Gas and propane detectors have been hooked up to emergency shutdown systems to ensure the safety of Global employees, and all the equipment required to support custom integration and testing - datalogging, instrumentation, power supplies, electronic loads - was installed for a full-shop setup. "The space has been set up so that we can run 24 of our Model 8550 units at once," says Rederburg. "We've had our first major jobs run through here already . . . some of them are multimillion-dollar jobs."
For the customer, the most obvious efficiency is that their Global custom solution is now constructed under one roof. Customers can see their remote power system brought to life in the shop, and participate in specific tests for the equipment. "In some cases, the customer wants to come in and have a look at the product. With the current setup, they can come take training in the customer service area in the morning, and then be over looking at their equipment in the afternoon," notes Rederburg.
Speaking of efficiencies, Global can also now tap into the Calgary market for suppliers and tradesmen - an important consideration, given that custom solutions require the Global engineering and production teams to use a unique supplier or specialized vendor.
"Obviously, we're now closer for materials and parts," says Rederburg. "And if we get into a situation where we have a major surge of orders come through, we can tap into the Calgary market for all sorts of trades."
Global's standard product assembly still takes place in Bassano, allowing officials at that 30,000-square-foot plant to reinvent the facility as a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) Centre of Excellence. "We're still making the parts for the custom systems that wouldn't be purchased," says Kevin Jones, manufacturing engineering team leader at Global's Bassano plant, "and with the streamlined process, we pump out about eight TEGs a day - that's a little over 2,000 a year."
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