Providing safe, reliable and affordable electricity to 1.1 million customers across more than 34,000 square miles takes considerable resources. APS cannot do it alone. It requires business partners who can supply equipment, deliver and produce materials and share expertise across a variety of industries.
In 2011, APS spent $1.7 billion with more than 7,000 different business partners. Today, APS is recognizing six suppliers for going above and beyond what is expected as a business partner. Their actions were instrumental in helping APS meet the energy needs of customers.
APS’s 2012 Suppliers of the Year are Rohrer Corporation; Southwest Ground Control LLC; URS Corporation; Levi, Ray and Shoup Inc.; Konecranes Nuclear Equipment & Services LLC and General Cable.
“Through their actions, these companies have demonstrated a dedication to customer service and a commitment to providing additional value to their relationship with APS,” said Barbara Gomez, Vice President of Supply Chain Management. “We would like to see our other business partners emulate the actions taken by our six award winners. Our customers directly benefit from the great relationships we have with these suppliers and the value they provide.”
Companies were nominated for the award by APS employees. Along with providing outstanding customer service, nominees were evaluated on their support of APS’s values including showing a commitment to sustainability; being actively involved in the community; and focusing on health, safety and environmental concerns.
One company was selected for each of the supply chain categories: Corporate Services, Energy Delivery and Facilities Services, Generation Services, Information Technology, Major Equipment and Materials.
Rohrer Corporation (Corporate Services) is a print, marketing and communications technology company. When APS’s annual customer account summary mailing – an important tool to help customers manage their monthly energy bills – fell behind schedule, Rohrer stepped up. They added extra work hours, including weekends, to help APS get all 800,000 summaries printed accurately and mailed on time.
Southwest Ground Control LLC (Energy Delivery and Facility Services), a vegetation management company, helps APS reduce the risk of forest fires in Arizona by removing vegetation around power lines and poles and in substations. Several tribal governments made a special effort to contact APS to praise Southwest Ground Control for its safe, professional and respectful approach to working on sensitive tribal lands.
URS Corporation (Generation Services) is an engineering and construction company. URS’s efforts at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, the Four Corners Power Plant and the Cholla Power Plant exhibited many of the values APS seeks in a business partner. For example, despite putting in 32,000 man-hours and meeting challenging deadlines, URS completed the design and engineering work on several water impoundments at Palo Verde without injury or damage to any individual or property.
Levi, Ray and Shoup Inc. (Information Technology) is an information technology solutions provider. The company helped APS achieve significant cost savings by passing on favorable pricing for software and hardware. While doing so, they were able to lessen the time it takes to prepare for the purchase, reducing it from 60 days to less than 14 days.
Konecranes Nuclear Equipment & Services LLC (Major Equipment) designs, installs and services a full range of nuclear lifting equipment. The company used timely and innovative solutions to design, engineer, purchase materials and safely replace a polar crane trolley at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The work was done on schedule and on budget despite short notice and a small time window to complete the job.
General Cable (Materials) is a manufacturer and distributor of wire cable. APS continued to build and repair critical infrastructure in a timely manner in part because General Cable not only maintained appropriate inventory levels of contracted products throughout the year, but was also able to provide additional non-contracted materials when other manufacturers could not meet supply needs.
APS, Arizona’s largest and longest-serving electricity utility, serves more than 1.1 million customers in 11 of the state’s 15 counties. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp.
