Electrical Contractor & Systems - Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Motor Controls, Automation, Lighting | Knights' Electric, Inc. (Newsletter

After 30 years of residence in the old neighborhood, Simi Winery has put in a change of address for its….bottling line. "This is going to be a lot better," explains John Pritchard, Bottling Supervisor at Simi Winery. "In the old location we had to put the cases outside, sometimes in the rain, because of where we were situated," says Pritchard, a Simi Winery employee since 1985. The bottling line has been moved next to the warehouse, where the wine is stored on pallets in a temperature-controlled atmosphere. "With the bottling line next to the warehouse the labels should go onto the bottles better because of better temperature control."

Knights' Electric installed these new control panels containing the motor controls that Knights' Electric moved from the old location to the new location for Simi Winery's bottling line.

With any bottling line seemingly little things like temperature, noise levels and lighting are amplified into big issues because of the intensity, speed and repetitive nature of bottling production. A case in point would be the electrical lines, powering the bottling line, that were lying on the floor in the old location. Walking over and among those lines is cumbersome and tiresome. Knights' Electric, who was called in to help move the bottling line controls to the new location, have fashioned a stainless steel wire-way "gutter" that runs overhead, above the bottling line holding the power lines. Conduits are dropped down from the gutter to power the motors that run the line. The Conduits locations can be moved for future changes and flexibility.

Knights' Electric installed the overhead lighting that has Pritchard smiling. It's energy efficient high-bay lighting that puts out 400 watts of light with and energy use of 200 watts. For a bottling line that runs 4 days a week from January to August, producing 250,000 cases, the energy savings for the lighting will be considerable.

The issue that seems to have Pritchard seemingly at ease is the moving of the bottling line motor controls to the new location. Knights' Electric, under the watchful eye of their electrician Mike Rose of the commercial/industrial department, is presently completing the control panels on a nearby wall containing all of the moved controls. This daunting task may have added a little time to the scheduling of the eventual overall move of the bottling line.

Pritchard, who has worked with Knights' over the years sited Jim Van Vranken, who recently retired from Knights' Electric, as an excellent motor maintenance man. It is duly noted that Jim's son, Tim, is an in-house electrician at Simi Winery. The torch, or circuit breaker has been passed.

Many experts in the field of self-improvement recommend that if you want to reach the top of your industry it is advisable to read books, listen to tapes and attend seminars that further your education and help make you excellent in your profession.

Knights' Electric took it upon themselves to send a contingent of their commercial/industrial department personnel to Anaheim, California to attend the Allen-Bradley Automation Fair , a 2-day program highlighting new motor control products and applications for automation and integrated systems. Scott Webb, Ray Fiore, Mike Rose and Roberto Mendoza, all of Knights' Electric's commercial/industrial department attended the event held November 20-21.

This touch screen control/monitor produced by Knights' Electric, runs PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) applications with flexible programming of 100 pages, 1000 functions and data acquisition capabilities.

An area of interest for the electricians from Knights' Electric was the RSLogix 5000 programming software to create, monitor and control basic PLC applications. Knights' Electric has installed many motor control systems for industrial and winery applications including Hansen Aggregate, Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards and Ravenswood Winery . Bottling lines, crush equipment and temperature controls are some of the winery applications that allow a higher level of control and variations, such as speed in automated equipment.

HMI (Human Machine Interface) involving touch screen controls was covered in one of the hands-on lab sessions attended by Knights' Electric personnel. Knights' Electric has previously installed touch screen technology at Stonestreet Winery .

Ethernet is an innovation that was also featured at the Fair, described as a "here to stay" application, it enables the user to access automation equipment via the Internet to monitor and/or modify automated functions from a remote location if desired.

The newest motor control technology, equipment, software and knowledge are all important elements of Knights' Electric's commercial/industrial and residential departments. The quest for excellence in these areas is also an important element of success for Knights' Electric.

There are two very different ways Jon Smith Builders bids residential jobs. One way is, as Jon Smith calls it, "fixed price", which is a fixed price contract. The other way is "negotiated", with a less detailed plan in the spirit of design/build. When asked which way he would rather go, Smith answers, "It's 50-50." He is actually answering two questions with that answer because half of the jobs he builds are fixed price and the other half are negotiated and he doesn't prefer one way to the other. Perhaps this flexibility is an advantage for Jon Smith Builders, Inc. in the marketplace in that they have more opportunities.

Exterior of custom home totally remodeled by Jon Smith Builders, Inc. shows acid wash beige stucco finish. Knights' Electric installed the entire electrical and lighting plan for the 5,800 square foot home.

"Most sub contractors are familiar with the fixed price bidding. Negotiated bids are subject to more building changes as the job progresses," explains Smith, who has been in business as a general contractor since 1984. Another factor in negotiated bidding has to do with the size of the projects with exclusive custom homes falling into the negotiated category more often than not.

Inside a gated community north of Santa Rosa, Jon Smith Builders, Inc. has totally gutted and remodeled a 5,800 square foot home that increased in size by only 30 square feet. This efficiency of planning and usage of space was aided by the architectural drawings of Ivan Lukrich, whom Jon Smith Builders, Inc. often uses.

This beige stucco home with S-tile roofing has a unique acid wash finish that Jon Smith characterizes as "doing its own thing", in that the patterns and various shades of light and dark are uncontrolled in the application and the results are spontaneously final in its visual appearance. This visual effect is akin to faux paint finishes except there is no precise outcome. The home now appears to have a rich, aged exterior texture.

The remodeled, negotiated project also includes a 550 square foot pool house to accompany the existing built-in swimming pool and a 400 square foot potting shed, both with the beige acid wash finish. The pool house has a darker brown, acid wash finished cement floor that adds depth to the room.

Matt Sweeney and Jeff Myers, of Knights' Electric's residential department, installed all of the electrical and lighting for this project. Knights' Electric has worked with Jon Smith Builders, Inc. previously on negotiated design/build custom homes in a market that both companies have flourished in.