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Stalled Relief Efforts Set in Motion Just in Time

By Kathleen Zipp | May 21, 2007

Two weeks ago, an EF-5 tornado hit the town of Greensburg with winds of up to 205 mph. It was the first tornado to touch down in the United States with a 5 rating since 1999. The tornado left city officials waiting patiently to restore fresh water for fire prevention and leak-testing in water pipes. The restoration depended upon an electric drive that controlled the motion of the water pumps, which was destroyed by the tornado.

The city called upon Yaskawa Electric America, Inc., to fix the problem. Using its “Just-In-Time” delivery method, Yaskawa prepared a top-quality emergency drive package with a bypass function in one day, in what would otherwise have been a two-week production process.

“We didn't want to slow them down,” explained Mike Grant, a sales engineer for Yaskawa. “We knew that there were a lot of people banding together between FEMA and the city managers of Greensburg getting things restored down there. We wanted to help in any way we could, and we're no strangers when it comes to rising to the occasion.”

Greensburg, KS Photos_Page_2_medium.jpg
P7 Drive with Bypass installed in Greensburg, KS pump house ready for operation.

Yaskawa Electric America, Inc.
16555 W. Ryerson Rd.
New Berlin, WI 53151

Web: www.yaskawa.com

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