[ponyboy]

Do any of you in house guys have specialized people or subs you use for low voltage work? We don't have anyone in house for it at my company and always give the work to the same contractor. I don't know how these guys get the work because they're not staffed for it and frankly they are butchers. Almost every piece of equipment in the plants has a network drop that can real time feed new specs to all the lasers and whatnot and then send information back to QC. I pipe drops in for them when I can but if my guys can't get to it it's on them. Their method of dropping cat 5s to equipment is just letting it fly or letting 20' of EMT go unsupported and crooked hanging off a bar joist. Then they drill a 3/8" hole in the control cab and just stick it in. I've tried getting these jokers replaced before but I think they have ties with a vp. I've worked with top notch lv guys in the past that could run conduit as good as any wireman and could get stuff done with their own labor without a sparky holding their hand. I'm just looking for any input on the issue

 

[Michigan Master]

We have one telecommunications guy.

For computer data drops on the shop floor our electricians always run a pipe and set a box for him since we're usually already there to run power for the receptacle. All our production equipment requires a network drop too; the telecommunications guy runs his cable and just leaves our end long; we tie into the control panel, and he ties into the network.

Over the past several years we've grown a lot, but he still doesn't have anyone helping him so sometimes we will also run his cable too. If we're all too busy and it gets contracted out the job always goes to licensed electrical contractors and the telecommunications guy just ties in his end.

 

[RIVETER]

Do any of you in house guys have specialized people or subs you use for low voltage work? We don't have anyone in house for it at my company and always give the work to the same contractor. I don't know how these guys get the work because they're not staffed for it and frankly they are butchers. Almost every piece of equipment in the plants has a network drop that can real time feed new specs to all the lasers and whatnot and then send information back to QC. I pipe drops in for them when I can but if my guys can't get to it it's on them. Their method of dropping cat 5s to equipment is just letting it fly or letting 20' of EMT go unsupported and crooked hanging off a bar joist. Then they drill a 3/8" hole in the control cab and just stick it in. I've tried getting these jokers replaced before but I think they have ties with a vp. I've worked with top notch lv guys in the past that could run conduit as good as any wireman and could get stuff done with their own labor without a sparky holding their hand. I'm just looking for any input on the issue

Why don't you just stand up and say that you will do the work?

 

[ponyboy]

Why don't you just stand up and say that you will do the work?

I don't have anything to do with the site networking and it's not my job to. My lv experience is slim to none as well. We pipe the drops when we can but the fact of the matter is we're paying these guys to do a job that they're not doing to par.

 

[Michigan Master]

I don't have anything to do with the site networking and it's not my job to. My lv experience is slim to none as well. We pipe the drops when we can but the fact of the matter is we're paying these guys to do a job that they're not doing to par.

We'd call them back in and make them fix it, and if they continued to do substandard work we'd just hire different contractors for future jobs.

 

[ponyboy]

We'd call them back in and make them fix it, and if they continued to do substandard work we'd just hire different contractors for future jobs.

That'd be nice but once things are up and running its impossible to convince production people their line needs to be shut down for anything other than violent failure.

I just wish we could hire a sub that could show up and do the whole frigging job without stealing our guys and our material and our lifts and machines. Ideally I never even want to know when the lv sub is there

 

[Michigan Master]

That'd be nice but once things are up and running its impossible to convince production people their line needs to be shut down for anything other than violent failure.

I just wish we could hire a sub that could show up and do the whole frigging job without stealing our guys and our material and our lifts and machines. Ideally I never even want to know when the lv sub is there

Whenever we bring outside contractors in it's clear up front if they may use our equipment or must bring their own. They also need a job briefing before beginning work, and we will do an inspection shortly afterwards.

 

[zwodubber]

I'm the specialized guy for our company when it comes to data. At our largest customer we have a group that handles major CAT installs while I do smaller projects.

I also pipe all the drops for them.

 

[zwodubber]

Only pics I have right now, some of the data cabinets and a typical machine drop.

 

[Ultrafault]

Are these subs cheaper than your guys?

 

[ponyboy]

Are these subs cheaper than your guys?

I have to emphasize again, our guys are not lv guys. We have three types of in house guys here- heavy comm/industrial construction types, mv and power distribution, and the scientists (Plc and control guys). It doesn't make sense to me but we don't have anyone on payroll who does that kind of work

 

[Deep Cover]

I'm not trying to be a ****, but how hard is it to run some Cat5 and punch some ends on it?

 

[ponyboy]

I'm not trying to be a ****, but how hard is it to run some Cat5 and punch some ends on it?

It's very easy. I'm talking about fiber runs and terminations, setting switches, repeaters, hubs, and routers. This isn't your run of the mill plant and they're very conscious of who is working on their network

 

[Kryptes]

So some 16 year old working on a summer job is more qualified to run it then you? If my plc guys cant run a cat5e and set up a network then they aren't my plc guys for long, it kinda comes with the responsibility.

 

[ponyboy]

Wtf is wrong with you guys? It is not my job to run cat5 drops, it is theirs. This isn't a custom home for joe blow electric. We've got more important things to do than pull and terminate lv all day. These guys are paid to do a job and they are doing it poorly. Yes if it was up to me they wouldn't be asked back and someone would be hired that could do that stuff all the time. What I'm mostly interested is how other substantial plants handle their lv work

 

[Deep Cover]

It's very easy. I'm talking about fiber runs and terminations, setting switches, repeaters, hubs, and routers. This isn't your run of the mill plant and they're very conscious of who is working on their network

The way we normally work it is that we run the cable/conduit, sometimes we install the ends for the simple stuff, they would install the specialty ends and do the network design. Could save a little money and would satisfy the workmanship issues.

 

[Kryptes]

In our plant we do it all ourselves from controlnet, cctv, to telephone. I will say most lv companies up here are hacks so we just do it ourselves so we nothing to complain about. When cat5e was new guys were making more then us to run it but now they just hire students at just over minimum wage. This is why the quality of work has gone down. People were scared of it but now anyone can do it.

 

[Ultrafault]

I run the wire and the fiber as well. Then have someone do the network if im not in the mood for it.

 

[Kryptes]

We haven't had to run much fiber, but we made sure we took it on instead of someone else. The more we do the more we can offer our customers.

 

[347sparky]

A lot of times we have done the piping and cat5 pulls while the other guys just terminate and test.