Location: Los Angeles, CA
Segment: Healthcare
Challenge: Maintain a power protection solution that delivers the highest level of reliability and uptime for more than 104,000 children.
Solution: Preventive Maintenance Service Plan
Results: Regular maintenance for UPSs and batteries to monitor and optimize health of the hospital’s power infrastructure.
With some service companies, it seems as if you are working for them. There are so many other things going on in the hospital and I don’t have time to hold hands and call people. I want someone who is here to help me, and with Eaton, that’s what I get.
Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has been named the best children’s hospital on the West Coast and is among the top five in the nation for clinical excellence with its selection to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. A nonprofit hospital for pediatric care, CHLA is home to The Saban Research Institute, one of the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the country. CHLA is also one of America's premier teaching hospitals through its affiliation with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
Each year, the hospital provides more than 104,000 children with pediatric healthcare in a setting designed just for their needs. Due to the critical nature of its business, the hospital requires a power protection solution offering the highest level of reliability and uptime. That’s why Eaton uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), coupled with a preventive maintenance service plan, have proven to be just what the doctor ordered. With three Eaton 9390 UPSs safeguarding various aspects of the hospital, the units ensure continuous, clean power to an extensive array of servers and networking devices.
“They protect all of the information that comes in for patients —whether it’s an order for medicine or other vital info,” explains Fidel Bustamante, the hospital’s lead electrician. “Without a doubt, these UPSs are essential to our operations and to patient care.” That’s why it is so important for the UPSs to receive regular checkups, he emphasizes. “If one of these units ever failed and we hadn’t kept up our maintenance on it, I’m sure I’d be looking for a new job!” Bustamante says.
But thanks to a semi-annual UPS and battery preventive maintenance plan from Eaton, the electrician is able to remain worry-free. When it comes to optimizing the health of its power solution, CHLA recognizes that it is imperative to choose a service provider who not only understands how its systems operate, but also offers the highest quality of technical expertise, the depth of resources, and the necessary parts to enhance ongoing UPS performance. Because regular maintenance practices have been shown to dramatically improve the reliability and performance of UPS systems — while significantly reducing susceptibility to downtime events — a quality plan is an essential part of ensuring that systems remain operational in the face of multiple threats.
“It’s like having insurance,” Bustamante explains. “Although we test the units every month and they go through it perfectly, we like knowing that we have someone else looking at them on a regular basis.” With CHLA’s semi-annual plan, Eaton service technicians come on site twice a year to inspect both the UPSs and their batteries. “They are always on time, and very flexible, too,” Bustamante reveals. “They call me and tell me when my maintenance is coming up, and ask me when we can schedule an appointment,” he adds. “I don’t ever have to call them.” Indeed, Eaton’s service division is recognized industrywide for having the most professional, technically skilled field technicians who deliver a powerful combination of quality, training, value, speed and commitment.
As the original equipment manufacturer, Eaton is the ideal source to complete thorough preventive maintenance on an Eaton UPS. In this way, the recommended manufacturer’s routine preventive maintenance is performed precisely to maximize the useful life of the UPS and minimize costly downtime, with factory-trained and certified technicians utilizing a regularly updated diagnostic software tool. In fact, comprehensive product training and certification are the backbone of the ongoing development of Eaton technicians. They not only participate in product training and certification, but also have constant exposure to Eaton UPS products and legacy brands. This familiarity enables the engineers to deliver advanced troubleshooting and a reduced mean time to repair.
“They’re always knowledgeable and extremely professional,” Bustamante confirms. “It’s such a pleasure to work with people who take care of business.”
A key component of any service plan is the peace of mind that help will be there when you need it, regardless of the time of day or the type of problem that is occurring. In addition to providing highly trained customers service engineers, Eaton offers CHLA a host of additional support resources, including round-the-clock access to a dedicated team of service consultants and technical support experts, local Eaton sales consultants and service experts, and priority status over non-contract service customers.
“With some service companies, it seems as if you are working for them,” Bustamante explains. “There are so many other things going on in the hospital and I don’t have time to hold hands and call people. I want someone who is here to help me, and with Eaton, that’s what I get.”
Furthermore, having selected Eaton as its UPS service provider means CHLA also benefits from ongoing communication between field services and factory engineering to mitigate repeat problems and increases system reliability. In addition, only Eaton technicians can ensure that customers have the latest software and firmware updates, resulting in increased reliability.
“If one of those UPSs failed, there would be a lot of kids waiting on medicine,” Bustamante warns. "But they work great. I never have to worry about the units, and that is vital.”
In addition to the customer service engineers who perform maintenance on the units, Bustamante praises the attentiveness of Eaton customer support. “There are two support members who help us and they always take care of things,” he shares. Because Eaton understands that service plans are not “one size fits all,” the company offers a broad range of options, designed to meet the varied requirements and applications of businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Even more, the ability to perform maintenance on your UPS means very little if you can’t obtain the replacement parts you need. But CHLA can rest assured that every Eaton technician stocks a solid inventory of parts to remedy UPS emergencies, with multiple factory-trained service technicians in every major metropolitan area. Conversely, independent service providers generally do not travel with appropriate parts, as it is difficult to carry a local supply of adequate parts for all UPS brands.
For contract customers who utilize on-site spare parts kits, Eaton maintains the kits on an annual basis to ensure firmware upgrades and part modifications are reflected in the kits. Obsolete spare parts are replaced at no additional charge for contract customers. Eaton also provides a lengthy End of Service Life (EOSL) notification timeframe to allow customers to assess their needs, analyze replacement strategies, budget for new systems, and maintain peace of mind that existing units will be maintained and ready until their new unit is up and running.
“Eaton knows they’re here for a reason. They are always professional, courteous and great to work with,” Bustamante sums up. “I don’t ever have to worry about those UPSs.”
