Right now, electric utilities across North America are spending money like never before – and that investment is driving one of the biggest infrastructure buildouts we’ve ever seen. But here’s the thing: behind every new substation, data center and transmission line is another part of the story – the people and companies, especially within EASA, that repair, rebuild and maintain the motors, generators, transformers and associated switchgear that keep it all running. That’s the electromechanical side of the business, and it’s about to get a lot busier.

Artificial intelligence has quickly become one of the most talked-about technologies across every industry, including the electromechanical world. Depending on who you listen to, AI is either going to replace engineers and technicians, or it is just another overhyped tech trend. As is often the case, the reality sits somewhere in the middle. 

Artificial intelligence is one of the most talked about technologies in industry right now, but how much of it is actually being used inside EASA member companies? To better understand this, the Emerging Technologies Committee recently surveyed the membership about AI adoption in service centers.

The repair/replace conversation should be built on facts, not feelings. Customers respect recommendations that are based on clear, technical, logical and economic reasoning.  A simple framework helps keep the discussion professional instead of emotional. 

For decades, digital visibility meant mastering search engine optimization. But it no longer tells the whole story. AI-driven search systems operate by new logic.

Like many EASA member service centers, Good Fruit Electric, LLC has learned that growth and sustainability depend on one thing: finding good people and helping them become productive quickly. Over the years, we’ve refined how we recruit and train new team members, but the process became far more effective when EASA introduced its learning management system.

Emotional intelligence is simply the ability to recognize, understand and manage your own emotions— and to recognize and respond to the emotions of others. When leaders grasp this side of their teams, performance improves—but more importantly, people grow. They become problem-solvers instead of task-doers. They become the next generation of leaders.

Does your electric motor service center have prescribed standard operating procedures? When we hire a new team member, we load them up with policy, safety and procedural manuals, often including resources like ANSI/ EASA Standard AR100-2020. Yet, many service center owners and managers have a disconnect when it comes to formal skill development programs.

No importa donde opere en el mundo, la respuesta más común a los desafíos parece ser redactar una nueva norma, directriz o marco regulatorio. El resultado suele ser un sistema de calidad que se convierte en una montaña de documentos, procedimientos y procesos, cada uno concebido para garantizar la calidad, pero que en conjunto amenaza con agobiar tanto a los tall-eres como a los ingenieros.

No matter where you operate in the world, the most common response to challenges seems to be drafting a new standard, guideline or regulatory framework. The outcome is often a quality system that grows into mountains of documents, procedures and processes—each one intended to ensure quality, but collectively threatening to overwhelm both workshops and engineers.