Experts in optimal PV cable management, HellermannTyton works closely with its solar customers to develop the most effective solutions to enhance their projects.
Over the years, it has supplied many solutions to the solar industry ranging from small to utility-scale, fully immersing itself into each one of its industries and working alongside engineers on-site to pinpoint daily obstacles, create the best solutions and develop more efficient products.
Focusing on energy conservation, renewable technology, and the integration of mechanical and electrical services into both new and existing buildings, one of HellermannTyton’s solar customers Watt Energy Saver, provides solar installations to commercial customers, reducing their energy bills and lowering their carbon footprint.
Recently, Watt Energy Saver sought the expertise of HellermannTyton to find a solution to identify cables on its solar installation projects.
As a result, they became the first customer to purchase one of HellermannTyton’s latest solutions for the solar industry – the Solar Tag.
An easier solution
Previously, Watt Energy Saver had been using slide-on markers to identify cables meaning installers had to identify each string individually via the customer’s numbering system and then denote each string as either positive or negative. A job with at least 100 strings would need four slide markers and then be attached to the cable via cable ties.
This is not a quick process and quite often, the numbers used most regularly were not available which created downtime with further time lost waiting for new products to be delivered. As a result, Watt Energy Saver decided that it needed a quicker, easier solution that would save them time on site and reduce the amount of downtime waiting for products to be delivered.
Their Project Manager, Paul Ellison noted, “Installing the slide-on markers requires a considerable amount of time, and we frequently find ourselves with an abundance of some and a shortage of other numbers needed to complete a job.”
Bespoke is the way
HellermannTyton suggested replacing its current method of using slide-on markers with Solar Tags in conjunction with its thermal transfer printer. HellermannTyton’s solar tag is a specially designed cable marker for identifying wire and cables without using a cable tie. The markers are looped on cables securely where a permanently legible and UV-resistant marking is required. This function saves on plastic and reduces costs for the customer as they do not need to purchase ties.
Watt Energy Saver now uses the Solar Tag on all of its new installations to identify the positive and negative strings at the invertors. “They are at least 50% quicker than traditional methods of identification and now that we are in control of printing the tags, we always have the right products for the job” continued Ellison.
Andrew Clarke, Business Development Manager at HellermannTyton, said: “We understand that to develop solutions that genuinely provide solutions to our customer’s challenges, we need to be with them on the job sites gaining an understanding of how we can meet their cable management needs.
“After talking with the customer and understanding the challenges they were facing, we were able to recognise that the Solar Tag, a product that would provide them with greater visibility of cables and would in turn save them time and money, would be the ideal solution. The Solar Tags can also be printed on-site using our thermal printers to suit each project, meaning the customer will no longer have to halt a project whilst waiting for products to arrive.”
A new way of working
In addition to using the Solar Tag, Watt Energy Saver now prints warning labels using HellermannTyton’s TIPTAGs. This enables the business to have complete control of identification products for any job, reducing the number of suppliers and quantity of orders it must place.
The Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply say that £80 is the average cost of raising an order. By raising less orders, the customer has been able to save money as well as experience a big reduction in downtime and installation time which is an advantage to both it and its customers.
Now, to further reduce the number of orders it places and help consolidate its supplier base; the customer is experimenting with using different sizes of Solar Tags.
To find out more about how HellermannTyton is supporting the solar industry, click here
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