Aircraft manufacturer maintains operations with CAT® rental power during hurricane matthew

As the largest employer in the Savannah, Ga. area, Gulfstream Aerospace requires continuous power to keep its headquarters and manufacturing campus humming.

Based on the predicted storm track of Hurricane Matthew in early October, Mark Hopkins knew the world’s leading manufacturer of private business aircraft would require additional power.

With 6.8 million square feet of facilities and about 14,000 employees in Savannah, Hopkins is charged with providing a safe working environment for all locations. That includes maintain existing power systems, while providing backup power to critical areas, such as the data center at the headquarters facility.

“We manufacture various components that are very sensitive to temperature and humidity, and we must have power to sustain that,” says Hopkins, group assets manager for Gulfstream. “Most importantly we have facilities all around the world that are dependent upon timely delivery of components.”

Gulfstream has backup systems in place for critical areas, but not at its aircraft service center that delivers aircraft components globally, and plays an essential role in maintaining Gulfstream planes. It is more cost effective for the company to utilize rental power when a major weather event looms that could knock out grid power.

“We can range anywhere from two to six megawatts of immediate need, and it needs to be mobile and continuous service,” Hopkins says.

Two years ago, Hopkins established a working relationship with the rental division of Yancey Power Systems in Savannah.

“They helped me develop a good plan to react to times like this,” Hopkins says. “And they were very helpful in immediately delivering the generator unit to the area of need. We coordinated with our local contractors to do the terminations, but they provided the technical expertise to set up the unit, start it up, and ensure that everything was functional.”

As a manager for Gulfstream’s properties in Savannah, Hopkins took a cautious approach when he first looked into what Yancey had to offer. 

“I didn’t want to commit right away to Yancey being my sole service provider, but they quickly exemplified what customer service is all about,” Hopkins says.  “I’d go as far as to say it’s superior—they have exceeded all my expectations.”

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