Alan Ross
Randy Williams, thank you so much for joining me at APC Media. First of all, what are you doing right now? I know you are currently with Voltyx, who recently got acquired along with NASS and EPC as part of the Asplundh family of companies. Tell me a little bit about it.
Randy Williams
After 44 years in this industry, I'm very excited to be a part of the Asplundh portfolio of services and products. I always thought of Asplundh as the tree company.
AR
The tree services company?
RW
Yes, I always thought of them as that too, but now that I am part of it, there is so much more. They're not just tree trimmers. We do storm management, emergency management, and vegetation management. But we also have another group, the infrastructure group that is engineering construction of underground overground substations, that type of thing. Adding Voltyx, North American Substation Services (NASS) and EPC, and our protection control group; we all fit right into the family of companies. I am really excited to be part the Asplundh group. It is exciting to be a part of something that has been around for around 100 years.
AR
Since you shared this with me, I did a bit of research. I like to look at companies based on finding the core of a company. What is their culture? You just said it: Asplundh is a family company, close to a century old. They are lucky to have you and you are lucky to be part of that portfolio of companies serving the power industry.
When we first met, we were guest speakers at an event. You came up after me, and when you got off the stage, my thought was, “oh my gosh, I never have to worry about finding an expert on bushings ever again”. You were that good. Little did I know you had become an expert at other things, too.
RW
Well, I think when we start talking about bushings, I almost have to want to take off my jacket and loosen up my tie a little bit and get a little bit real. I've been in the industry now since about 1980, and in 1980 I was Westinghouse. It was not ABB at the time.
At that time there were two major players making transformers in the United States. You had GE and Westinghouse, who competed against each other. Westinghouse actually manufactured bushings for themselves, for their factories. GE also made bushings for themselves at their factories, but GE also made bushings and sold them to other factories outside of their own GE factories.
In 1980, Westinghouse wanted to consolidate, because we were making bushings in three different factories. GE had a bushing that was called the Type U. That was about 75% of the industry at the time. That was probably about 22,000 or 23,000 bushings a year from 25 kv through 800 kv.
Westinghouse was making three different types of bushings in three different factories. To consolidate bushings manufacturing they located an existing factory in Alamo, TN. In Alamo at the time, they were making trans-former rectifier units, air core reactors, and oil instrument transformers. Actually, I was an oil instrument transformer winder on the floor.
That is how I started. Westinghouse built a Type O bushing before 1980. And when they brought it to Alamo, they redesigned it and called it Type O+. In about 1985 GE said, “we're going to get out of the transformer market and when we get out of a transformer market, we're not going to need to be in the bushing market anymore.” They had 75% of the market share with bushings at the time.
We had a young man who was an Engineering Manager in Alamo at the time by the name of Harold Moore. Now most everybody knows Mr. Harold Moore across the industry. Harold said, “why should we try to keep doing what we're doing? Let's go get those drawings”. Because they bought the GE technology and all of the drawings - 20 or 30 million drawings from 20 mva and up - and all the bushing drawings, and if they already have 75% market share, “let's take their GE shell”. At the time they had a condenser problem. It was called the herringbone condenser problem.
They started having bushings that were failing in the field at the time. Westinghouse had bought a technology in 1980 from a company called Micafil AG in Zurich. Micafil had this design that was a printed ink design also, but it was individual sheets, capacitors built in. It was not a herringbone design. Micafil had been building this bushing for 20 years with basically no failures in the field. We took the GE shell with 75% market share and Harold says, “let's take the Micafil design”, and that’s Westinghouse now. “Let's put that condenser that hasn't failed in 20 years inside that GE shell”.
They called it Type O+C. The C meant composite. Most people today, when they hear composite, they think of different materials, silicon rubbers and resins and things like that. But if you look up the word composite in the dictionary, it just means a group of parts put together. That is what they did. They took parts from GE and from Westinghouse and the Micafil design condenser, and they married them all together to form the Type O+C. Since 1986, we had probably 65% to 70% of the market share within the US.
AR
And they are still out there today.
RW
Yes, there are tons of them. That bushing is an oil impregnated condenser bushing with a porcelain insulator which they still make today. Everybody wondered why Micafil would license this technology of the condenser to Westinghouse and basically give it away and share this technology for Westinghouse to build. Well, what we didn't really know is that Micafil had dropped oil impregnated paper in 1980, moving exclusively to resin impregnated paper in 1980.
There was a technology change around the rest of the world, and we thought we were getting the best technology, but they were already coming in behind us with a new technology. Since everybody thinks RIP, a resin impregnated paper condenser, is a new technology in the US, we are just not familiar with it. And US utilities don't like change unless they have a history with the technology.
Micafil has been building RIP bushings since 1980, so it has been around a long time. I wrote the marketing plan for ABB in 2000 to change to dry type bushings because we saw the need for it environmentally. People were trying to get rid of oil. If it's a high seismic region, a lot of times, large bushings that are porcelain, that are very heavy, can't withstand a high seismic.
Then also, you have security reasons in the United States where people want to take “pot shots” at bushings or transformers and things like that. For years RIP technology used porcelain insulator on the upper end and then we moved to a silicon rubber. They had RTV at first, which is not a high grade of rubber, and then changed to LSR, which they still make today, which is a liquid silicon rubber that is molded. You also have HTV, which is high temperature vulcanized rubber. Westinghouse had to decide at some point, too, with oil impregnated paper bushings with insulators, because they had their own insulator factory.
Porcelain was made in two places in the United States, and one of them was a competitor of Westinghouse at the time, who was making their own insulators. Suddenly, insulator companies folded in the United States, and now they are being made in China or elsewhere. Lead times of bushings with standardization within the IEEE standards suddenly expands and we know how important IEEE standards are to the industry. Even if you standardize, people want bushings in two weeks, four weeks, six weeks. If it's a replacement, they want it today. But when lead times grew to 24 weeks, that was and is still difficult to manage. What bushings manufacturers have to do is stock boatloads of porcelain on the bet that they're going to get orders.
So that changed the philosophy, too, of moving towards silicon rubber insulators that we could make ourselves and not depend on porcelain manufacturers. But it is hard to make that switch, to meet the demand right now. We know what the demand for transformer manufacturers these days is three, four, five-year lead times. Well, there's a big demand on bushings for all of those transformers coming in, and my approximate guess of new transformers coming into the US is probably between 3000 and 3600 a year new, whether it be for renewables or utilities or industrial and commercial.
But there are probably 200,000 old transformers in service across the United States, right? And they all typically have seven bushings on them.
So, bushings become more important as these transformers age and are being operated well beyond their design life. I was at the transformer switchyard users’ group, which is nuclear generation, and they are seeing more failures today as well. Not just older bushings, but also newer bushings. Is it because the utility industry is losing expertise to know how to maintain or identify problems in the field? At first, when RIP technology came on board, they were very defensive. No monitoring on bushings. Now we are seeing more people with monitoring devices because they don't test as often but when you monitor, you are tapping into the heart of the bushing.
I just bought a brand-new Corolla the other day and If I put something on that Corolla, on the engine or the electronic system, that was different from what came from the factory, they would tell me my warranty was void.
AR
Correct.
RW
And the same thing happens with bushing manufacturing. I do see the advantage of monitoring these days because there are other influences that affect failures on bushings, other than just the bushing failing. It could be overheating or lightning or a squirrel or frog or a snake or a bird or something like that. I do see the need for monitoring in the industry, and it's shifting toward that direction as we look at history.
The next change has been from RIP to RIS. RIS is a resin impregnated synthetic. Because we know how utilities store bushings as spares. RIP bushings, in lower end, the paper can take on moisture if it's not properly stored. We know they store them everywhere, inside, outside,
if they can even find them when they need them. But the RIS, in the lower end, doesn't take on the moisture. So, it's better for people with, with spare bushings in the field.
The fact that the demand is there, and it is hard to turn one faucet off from OIP that we are still selling because of the demand and turn to RIP
or RIS to fill that growing demand. Right now, I think it is a supply and demand thing that is holding back the transition from OIP into RIP or RIS, or in the silicon insulators. The demand is too big right now.
AR
Is it possible to retrofit an OIP with an RIP or RIS?
RW
Here is the key Alan, if you bought your transformer per the IEEE standards and stated IEEE bushings, that standard has dimensional requirements besides electrical requirements and testing requirements and things like that. If they bought to IEEE standards, the RIS bushings and the RIP bushings, then they are one for one fit. And fit is one of the most important things when you are going to replace a bushing because if the fit is not proper, if it is too big to fit the hole, or if it is too long inside, then you lose clearances inside the transformer and the transformer guys are going to throw their hands up and say “nope”. You. When you lose the clearances, especially with an aging transformer, it could fail on you or go catastrophic. But, if you bought to IEEE standards, it will be fine. I know I am pushing IEEE here again, but is important to be involved, be a part of IEEE, vote, attend.
We know what the demand for transformer manufacturers these days is three, four, fiveyear lead times. Well, there's a big demand on bushings for all of those transformers coming in, and my approximate guess of new transformers coming into the US is probably between 3000 and 3600 a year new, whether it be for renewables or utilities or industrial and commercial.
AR
Last question for you. What is next for you? You still seem to be enjoying it. You've been in the industry a long time.
RW
You know, I am kind of like you. Everybody thought I was going to retire six years ago, right?
AR
I thought you were retired.
RW
You know, I am kind of like you. Everybody thought I was going to retire six years ago, right?
AR
I thought you were retired.
RW
No, I still travel, close to 250 days out of the year. It is all about relationships. It is about knowing the pulse of the industry. And if you don't have your finger on it, how it's changing and moving, not just technology, but the people and what they starve for, or what they need, or the new requirements that are there; if you're not on top of it, then you're not on your game. I like to be on my game or ahead of the game, and I still just enjoy people. One of the best things I enjoy is an interview with you. It's exciting to be here. I'm really excited about Asplundh, how I can grow and learn.
AR
That is one of the things I love about you Randy, you have always been very open to sharing,
taking your knowledge and sharing it. Young engineers would be wise to buy your book if you had one. Write a book, by the way. History of bushings and we will publish it. They'd be wise to buy your book, and either that or buy you lunch.
RW
Mister Harold Moore told me I was the best salesman that he had ever met who never sold anything, and that I only tried to educate people to make the right decision. And it's how you position yourself to educate people to make the right decision.
Is the right decision OIP, RIP or RIS? Which is the right application for them? Education, to me, is the best thing.
AR
Thanks, Randy. This has been wonderful, as usual. Let's make sure that the next time we speak, at an event they let both of us get up on the platform and we'll tag team. That would be brilliant.
RW
That would be fantastic. You take care, Alan. Thank you so much.
