Birmingham, AL, July 13, 2021 – Altec is excited to announce the release of the AC40E-152S and AC45E-127S riding seat cranes with updated E-Series controls.
Developed from customer feedback, this next generation of cranes comes with all-new world-class electric controls, updates to the operator interface, added operator creature comforts and improved dependability.
“Our team designed these updated controls to give crane operators a better experience and more confidence while in the seat, resulting in more efficient work and less discomfort after a long day on the job,” said Zak Hilliard, Altec Cranes Market Manager.
The E-series cranes have a redesigned gearbox, rotation bearing and controls system. As a result, the starts, stops and glide swing are smooth. Overall, both better meterability and improved swing performance increase operator confidence, control and jobsite productivity.
The AC40E-152S and AC45E-127S cranes provide the following features:
Altec LMAP (Load Moment & Area Protection) System with Smart-Zone Rating functionality for safe asymmetric outrigger setups
Dual Entry 20° Tilt Cab with Heater and A/C
Advanced E-series Electric over hydraulic unit controls
Altec AXIS Service Interface for enhanced calibration, diagnostics and troubleshooting
As with all Altec products, the E-series cranes are backed by the industry’s leading national support network and warranty protection.
To learn more about the AC40E-152S and AC45E-127S, call 800-958-2555 or contact an Altec representative online.
Altec is a leading equipment and service provider for the electric utility, telecommunications, contractor, lights and signs and tree care markets. The company provides products and services in more than 100 countries throughout the world.
Diverse spend refers to the amount of money companies spend with Minority-Owned Business Enterprises (MBE).
To help promote diversity and inclusion, many businesses maintain yearly supplier diversity programs by identifying and doing business with a range of diverse companies. In electric utility, telecommunications, tree care, lights and signs, and contractor markets, this is often achieved by leasing equipment.
Also, federal contractors such as utility and governmental agencies often require contractors to spend a certain amount of money with minority-owned companies to be eligible to earn contracts with said utility or agency.
What’s the Advantage of Leasing Relative to Diverse Spend?
Leasing is an easy, efficient way of spending money with an MBE. Leasing provides an opportunity to assess and build relationships with new suppliers, vendors, distributors and other third parties that address a company’s needs. Leasing also creates a dependable stream of diverse spend transactions that is easy to calculate.
Beyond meeting diverse spend goals or obtaining contracts, leasing with an MBE can ultimately benefit the economy and underutilized communities.
According to a 2020 article from the Harvard Business Review titled, “Why You Need a Supplier Diversity Program,” diverse spend “delivers broader societal benefits by generating economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities.”
In addition, the article also mentions a recent report from the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council. The report states, “certified MBEs generate $400 billion in economic output that lead to the creation or preservation of 2.2 million jobs and $49 billion in annual revenue for local, state, and federal tax authorities.”
What Other Ways do Companies Fulfill their Diverse Spend Needs?
There are many ways to spend money with MBE’s, including but not limited to: subcontractors, fuel supply services, parts, etc. Really, anything that makes up part of the supply chain could be sourced through an MBE.
How Can Altec Capital’s Equipment Leasing Help Me Reach My Supplier Diversity Targets?
Altec Capital Services partners with Cadence Leasing to provide a seamless approach to diversity leasing. Cadence Leasing Inc. is a certified Minority and Service-Disabled Veteran business enterprise serving over 30 Fortune 250 Firms for 19 years.
Manda Wiebe, Accounting Manager at MGE Underground, a utility contractor based in Paso Robles, CA, says Altec Capital Services and Cadence Leasing have made it easy for her company to meet their diverse spend goals. “From streamlining paperwork to an online system to answering my team’s many questions, ACS and Cadence Leasing made leasing our equipment a pain-free and even enjoyable experience.”
Wiebe continued, “Beyond just the finance side of things, I am impressed with the level of service Altec Capital provides. The relationships our company has forged with ACS makes me look forward to interacting and doing business with them.”
The Altec Capital/Cadence Alliance has been benefiting numerous clients for several years and is designed to meet the requirements of several areas in our customers’ businesses, including:
Fleet operations
Finance
Strategic sourcing
Diversity organizations
For more information on how Altec can help your company achieve its supplier diversity goals, call (888) 408-8148, email finance@altec.com, or contact your Altec Capital Account Manager for more details.
Phil Doud, Sentry Program Manager for Altec, joined Kurt Moreland of Incident Prevention Magazine for an interview regarding Altec Sentry, its training options, OSHA and ANSI standards and how the pandemic has impacted in-person training options.
To start the interview, Kurt asked, “You know we all see those beautiful Altec bucket trucks around town working hard but tell us about Altec Sentry. Exactly what is Altec Sentry, and what do they do?”
Altec Sentry has been serving customers for 20 years, helping customers train their operators to operate their Altec equipment safely. Training is offered in-person, online, or through Train the Trainer programs, where Altec teaches an in-house trainer at the company, who will then train its employees.
OSHA and ANSI Standards
When asked about one question he would ask equipment operators, Doud replied, “We have this conversation a lot. I usually ask, ‘if you needed to, could you reach into a training file and find an employee training record that you know is going to meet OSHA and ANSI training requirements?’”
For the electric utility industry, OSHA requires employers to train their employees properly. Although ANSI standards aren’t regulatory, OSHA can look to ANSI’s industry standards as a reference when they need to decide whether the employer administered proper training.
“Training improperly can be almost as bad as not training at all,” said Doud. “I think the connection there is that OSHA is going to look at the ANSI standards, and that’s been true for quite some time, just not as well-known perhaps as what people read strictly in OSHA.”
When it comes to how utility companies train operators, there’s a lot of variation. According to Doud, employers and operators may struggle to implement a consistent training process. Altec Sentry helps customers have that conversation to understand where they are and determine what solution will work for them.
No matter the size of the customer, they first need to assess where they are relative to ANSI training standards, which helps them determine if they have the resources in place and measure that against their current needs.
“I’ve got to say, in my experience, it’s pretty unusual for a customer to call with a great, solid understanding of those ANSI training requirements,” said Doud. “It’s not the most exciting topic in the world and that knowledge is kind of hard to find. We want to help them understand the regulations and get in front of them the right information so they can make an informed decision when they decide to start building resources or spending money.”
Training Before and After the Pandemic
Kurt then directed the conversation toward the pandemic, how it affected in-person training, and what Altec Sentry is doing in the online training realm.
Since 2016, Altec Sentry has offered online core operator, unit operating procedure and basic operational courses. These courses cover Altec’s entire range of products, including utility, tree care, lights and signs and cranes. Mechanic training courses and live webinars were added earlier this year.
For Altec Sentry, safety is everything, and that includes keeping customers safe during the pandemic.
Phil spoke about the value of online training, both before and during the pandemic. Customers are looking for ways to reduce in-person classroom time and are turning to online training courses now more than ever. However, Doud mentions that ultimately, you need actual hands-on experience operating the equipment. To facilitate this remotely, Sentry offers virtual training options that allow instructors to monitor online.
“We recognize there are certain conditions that have to be in place to keep safety in mind when we aren’t able to be there in person. But you know, ultimately, we find that customers that we can travel to prefer to have an in-person option with the proper precautions in place,” said Doud. “But we have worked it both ways – we’ve delivered virtual training to some of our more remote customers, and it’s been successful.”
Altec Sentry’s primary in-person offering is a direct training product for aerials and digger derricks. These one-day formats host up to 15 people in a class. Sentry Instructors facilitate classroom sessions and lead the hands-on training, evaluating attendees on how well they can operate the controls. Sentry’s trainers are there to answer questions and make sure students know how their equipment is intended to work.
Training that Covers a Wide Range of Needs
Altec Sentry trains at small and medium-sized companies, large utilities, tree trimmers, contractors, public works, and municipalities. They also want to provide safety training to Altec equipment users who may not have purchased the equipment directly from Altec. For example, if a contractor buys an Altec truck at an auction, they still are able to receive Altec Sentry training.
“It doesn’t matter how you acquired your Altec unit, you know we hope you bought it from us, but as long as you’ve got one, you’re in the Altec family,” said Doud. “We’ll come to you and set up training that meets your needs and your schedule, and that’s part of the total Altec value that Altec Sentry brings, right alongside Supply, Parts and Service and all the other things you can get by giving us a call.”
Phil mentioned that in the past few days before the interview, he received at least half a dozen requests from customers who had never contacted Altec before, and their request for training is the first time they’ve reached out to the manufacturer. Altec Sentry’s trainers are often an employers’ first contact with Altec, so trainers make sure they can answer any questions or find answers quickly and give employers a complete understanding of how their equipment is intended to work.
“We really want to be an ambassador for the equipment and establish that relationship in the right way, get that safety message out there, and help people take full advantage of the equipment they bought,” said Doud.
Visit Altec Sentry’s website to access operator safety and maintenance courses. For questions about Sentry training or to register for a class, email sentrypost@altec.com.
CA-PAR Electric, an electrical contractor based in Covington, Louisiana, offers ongoing utility work and storm recovery services to electric utilities, electric co-ops, federal, state and industrial facilities. The company and its business units, Tempest Energy and Tempest Storm Rentals, partner with Altec to make sure their work crews, customers and communities receive the best care and service in the aftermath of destruction from natural disasters.
Stephanie Cain, CA-PAR Electric’s CEO, says Altec equipment helps them work quickly to get jobs done on time and within the budget.
“Altec fills a need for us with the buckets and the diggers primarily,” said Cain. “They help us do our work efficiently and safely – the process with Altec has been very easy.”
Jeffery Seamen, a CA-PAR Electric Crew Lineman, mentioned that having smaller digger trucks helps the crew get into tighter spots to set poles, such as a backyard or an alleyway. From there, they’ll bring in a bucket truck to finish the job and get their customer’s power back on.
Tempest Energy
Tempest Energy, CA-PAR’s storm response and restoration electrical utility division, relies on Altec equipment to help get jobs completed for their customers. The company continues to do business with Altec because of Altec’s quick response to their needs.
Bill Cain, CEO of Tempest Energy, said the quality and effort Altec puts into every aspect of the business gives him the confidence he and his team need to succeed. Thanks to Altec, Cain says they can get in front of clients, work with contractors and help their customers feel they’ve got the support they need to get jobs done.
“That is one thing you can take off the table,” said Cain. “We’re not gonna have to worry about the equipment side of things – Altec’s got it taken care of.”
Mike Zappone, Tempest Energy VP of Sales & Marketing, says having Altec equipment is great for their customers to see; it shows Tempest company is taking their job seriously.
“I can go in with a great deal of confidence that that Altec emblem is on our equipment,” said Zappone. Mike says that his customers know that Tempest is committed to getting the job done right because they’re partnering with Altec.
Altec is committed to helping its customers, no matter what the request, or need, may be – and customers see that.
“The support that I get from the sales staff, from the repair staff, from corporate, from finance – it’s all-encompassing and makes my job easier,” said Joe Boggs, Director of Fleet Operations at Tempest Storm Rentals. “Without them, it just wouldn’t work.”
Are you interested in seeing how Altec can help your electrical utility company? Call 800-958-2555 or contact an Altec representative online.
Birmingham, AL, July 13, 2021 – Altec is excited to announce the release of the AC40E-152S and AC45E-127S riding seat cranes with updated E-Series controls.
What is Diverse Spend?