Whether an outage is caused by a natural or manmade disaster or a simple lack of regular maintenance and testing, an electrical outage means loss of production. A lack of production results in the loss of money and costly delays for customers. NPE specializes in being your go-to partner for expediting your equipment after an outage. NPE specializes in providing fast, cost-effective solutions no matter what the problem is. We deliver the right part, at the right price, right away.

Effects of Power Outages on Businesses

Electricity drives productivity in the modern world, and often production is run on switchgear and circuit breakers that have been off the market for years, if not decades. If you contact the original manufacturer and they tell you they no longer support your product line, your only option will be to replace your equipment with a newer model on the market. This will often entail reconfiguring your distribution system, paying upgrade costs, and waiting months for “the latest and greatest” product line – only to find out that it’s less reliable than what you previously had. 

In manufacturing, even seemingly small power flickers can cause significant impacts. Manufacturers are especially vulnerable to equipment damage during outages; electrical surges may occur when power is restored, resulting in costly damage to critical equipment that is difficult to repair.

For high-volume manufacturers, a power outage can mean disruption that ripples through the entire supply chain. Shipping and receiving can come to a standstill, causing truck drivers and other means of transportation to be delayed or rescheduled.
 
So, when disaster strikes and you’re faced with these obstacles, what do you do? Who do you call to restore production in the fastest and most economical way? That’s where National Power Equipment comes in to help. As a stocking distributor of used, remanufactured circuit breakers and switchgear parts and our ever-growing list of aftermarket parts, NPE can supply you with the right equipment, at the right price when you need it. 

How to Prevent Power Outages?

While you can’t always predict when a power outage is going to strike, you can work quickly to connect with our professional team to ensure your operation is up and running quickly. Our warehouses are stocked with low voltage (600 VAC or less) through medium voltage (15,000 volts or less) air and vacuum circuit breakers, switchgear, medium voltage motor starters, load break switches, and all the parts needed to go with it. Our inventory is stocked with equipment that dates from World War II to the present. Our services go beyond part replacement, our staff has the experience, knowledge, and expertise to get your operation back up and running in a fraction of the time compared to a full system replacement. Think of us as your “ELECTRICAL 911”. When disaster strikes, large or small, we can assess the problem, offer a variety of solutions, and start implementing them right away.

Case Study: Navigating the Aftermath of a Flood

Consider the case of a once-in-a-lifetime flood that incapacitated a technical center for a major automotive company. While the water was still receding, NPE was on-site – consulting with the contractor, assessing the damage, and formulating plans. We helped to ensure replacement parts and equipment began arriving the next day. NPE supplied medium voltage fuses and switch parts, low and medium voltage circuit breakers, relays, and a variety of additional parts. Our team worked tirelessly to help get over twenty load centers back online quickly. The first of the substations came on in a week, and within eight weeks 99% of production was restored.  Overall, NPE made seventy-nine separate shipments including one of sixty-seven circuit breakers that were reconditioned and ready to go.

What to Do When Your Business Loses Power

Unexpected outages, large or small, require two things to overcome them – experience and options. If you’re in the market for a knowledgeable, trusted partner in the switchgear and circuit breaker market, we can help. Contact us today or head to https://npeinc.com to find out how we can utilize our 40+ years of industry expertise to find the right solution for you. 

Many say that we are currently in a recession, others say not yet but one is due to hit soon. Either way we are all dealing with rising prices, longer lead times and shortages in available equipment. At NPE, we are here to help recession-proof your business.

Here's how we can help!

* Used, reconditioned equipment is at least 40%-60% less expensive than buying new.

* Used, reconditioned equipment is always quoted from available inventory so there are no supply chain issues.

* All reconditioned equipment is tested and warranted for up to two years! That's longer the manufacturer warrented it as new!

National Power Equipment specializes in:

Parts for Equipment Maintenance and Repair- We can support you with parts and supplies to keep your breakers, switchgear and medium voltage starters safely maintained and running for years to come. Many of the most problematic parts are available online at Aftermarket Parts Store for Replacement Circuit Breakers or Switchgears (npeinc.com) Many of these parts are available as new and upgraded by NPE (or one of our partners) to eliminate the defect that caused the problem in the first place.

Increase Capacity - As your business grows we can help your switchgear grow with you! From simply supplying a breaker for a future cell or adding and entire unit substation we have the equipment and expertise to help you expand economicly and without down time. Circuit Breakers, Relays, Transformers National Power Equipment (npeinc.com)

Equipment Upgrades - Solid State trip upgrades with reputable companies, such as Utility Relay, are one of our many specialties. Do you need to upgrade the ampacity of a line from say 1200 amp to 2000 or 3000 amp? We have the parts and experience to help there, too! Reconditioned Equipment (npeinc.com).

Rentals and Exchanges - With an inventory of literally thousands of breakers in every configuration, we can help you avoid longer term outages and stay up and running by purchasing upgraded and warranted breakers and equipment and swapping them out with your existing breakers, then return your original back to us for credit for the core. Quick Ship Inventory for Reconditioned Circuit Breakers & Switchgears (npeinc.com).

Technical Support - With decades of hands-on experience, literally 1,000's of breakers on hand for reference and huge online library of technical manuals and renewal parts books. Just give is a call and we will figure it out! Circuit Breakers, Relays, Transformers National Power Equipment (npeinc.com).

As Bob Dylan said, "The times they are a-changin'!" but that doesn't mean change has to be bad. With NPE's inventory, staff and decades of experience, we can all navigate these economic changes and grow.

Give us a call 1-800-647-0815 or send us an email info@npeinc.com and let us know how we can help you.

Remember, at NPE our motto is "The Right Equipment, at the Right Price, Right Now!"

Almost every day we receive an inquiry for switchgear, air and vacuum circuit breakers and related parts because the customer just got notice from the OEM  that their order has been delayed by weeks or even months due to "supply chain issues". These issues have become a fact of life and effect everyone, everyday regardless of industry, right? Wrong!

How NPE Helps Businesses Beat the Switchgear Shortage

When you deal with a company like National Power Equipment (NPE), there are NO supply chain issues! Everything we quote is on the shelf waiting for an order. We generally ship the same day or next day. Custom orders may take a little longer, but still are a fraction of the time versus OEM orders and are a fraction of the cost of new! 

NPE has thousands of used air and vacuum circuit breakers, tons of switchgear and tens of thousands of related parts all in stock. Each order has a money back guarantee and reconditioned equipment has a 1-2 year warranty.

In short, NPE has:

     Equipment is IN STOCK and ready to ship 

     Never had a supply chain issue

     Expert staff that will guide you through finding the proper equipment for your application

     Inventory that is updated daily and searchable online at www.npeinc.com

So give us a call, send us an email or search or inventory online. Find out why our motto at National Power Equipment, Inc. is "The right equipment, at the right price, right now!"

Traditionally, the used equipment industry and especially the market for used switchgear has been thought of as being counter recessionary. The common wisdom being, customers will spend money to maintain and upgrade old equipment rather than buy new to save money and to avoid the long lead times associated with purchasing and installing new switchgear.

Recent growth in manufacturing and our economy has changed this dynamic and now used switchgear, circuit breakers and parts have seen a surge in sales that looks to continue well into the future. We see the driving forces behind the growth as:

• Increased demand for products pushes manufacturers to restart old production lines and push them to new limits.
• Much of the switchgear that powers these lines are no longer supported by the original manufacturer because of the planned obsolescence. This creates increased demand for used and aftermarket solutions. NPE AFTERMARKET PARTS
• Used and aftermarket solutions are typically 40-60% less expensive than purchasing new equipment, and they are available much faster and generally carry the same or better warranty as new. To add to this, the fact that personnel are already familiar with how this switchgear operates and you have a win-win scenario.
• Increased cash flow from the economic upturn allows for maintenance and upgrades that had been previously deferred.
• Regular maintenance and testing of switchgear and breakers will increase the life span of the equipment by decades. Older technology can be easily upgraded with options like arc flash protection, ground fault and communications. All these factors will reduce down-time and unscheduled outages.
• For Field Service Specialist - servicing switchgear that has been obsoleted by the manufacturer will also serve as an opportunity for companies to provide other equipment and other services that field engineers can alert them to. Having your people in a plant, actively promoting your products is the best advertising you can get. 
• Older switchgear can be repaired and upgraded to meet new demand. Many of the new products are sealed and unable to be repaired. As a result, repairs or upgrades that would cost a few hundred or few thousand dollars, and cannot be performed and users are forced to discard equipment and purchase new replacements for tens of thousands of dollars and potentially long lead times. 
• Many customers are realizing that planned obsolescence will also render new installations of the latest whizz-bang technology obsolete, the same way their current equipment has been treated. Maintaining and upgrading current equipment just makes sense.

The bottom line is that just as a rising tide raises all boats, as the economy grows and thrives, so will the demand for used equipment dealers like National Power Equipment, where our motto is, "The right equipment, at the right price, right now!" Whether you are an end user, in the repair industry or a dealer, we strongly recommend you prepare for double digit growth in 2021 and the years that follow.

Websters definition
Obsolete
adjective
ob·so·lete | \ˌäb-sə-ˈlēt, ˈäb-sə-ˌlēt\
Definition of obsolete
a: No longer in use or no longer useful // an obsolete word
b: Of a kind or style no longer current, old-fashioned // an obsolete technology

NPE’s definition
As relating to switchgear and circuit breakers… A product line not supported by the original manufacturer, but still commonly in use.

Why No Switchgear Parts are Really Obsolete

Many factories, government facilities, and large commercial buildings are operating on switchgear that is no longer supported by the OEM. The lights are still on, production is running, and everything is fine, until it comes to light that new parts are no longer available. What should you do?

Switchgear is one of those systems that represent a large financial investment. It’s physically large and often located in a basement, or on a rooftop or mezzanine. This makes it difficult to physically remove it if you decide to replace it and represents a large commitment of money, labor, and more importantly downtime for the building and systems. That’s time and money that could be better spent elsewhere. The solution to this problem is to find what you need on the secondary or used equipment market.

Where to Find Obsolete Circuit Breakers and Other Used Switchgear Parts

Used switchgear dealers are often looked at as the first responders of the electrical market. They are intimately familiar with the equipment that the OEMs have obsoleted and can supply you with quality circuit breakers and parts, reconditioned to the highest standards and often upgraded with the latest materials and technology. Best of all, equipment is available with little or no lead time keeping your facility and production up and running.

At NPE, we have a saying that “nothing is obsolete.” Not only do we have thousands of circuit breakers, switchgear, and parts in stock and available at a moment’s notice, we also offer solutions for over 300 of the most troublesome, hard-to-find parts. This gives you new aftermarket replacement parts with design and material upgrades to keep your switchgear up and running better than ever. Our inventory includes items that go back to the 1940s and our staff has the experience to provide cost effective solutions for repair, upgrade your equipment, and extend its useful lifespan almost indefinitely.

Need a solution for your switchgear problems? Submit information about what you need on our NPE on the Go mobile site or contact us today to talk about your needs and how NPE can help.