Customer Connection

New Leadership at Sensus

Significant leadership changes at Sensus took effect last month. Read on below to learn more about the transition.

Colin Sabol, Xylem Senior Vice President, has been named President of Sensus & Analytics, effective October 1. Colin succeeds Randy Bays, who will move into an advisory role with a focus on Xylem’s global manufacturing operations. Both will report to Xylem President and CEO, Patrick Decker.

"Colin is a proven leader with both the strategic perspective and executional discipline to unlock the full potential of this newly integrated business and accelerate our growth in the smart infrastructure sector," Decker said. "Over the past several months, he has worked closely with Randy to gain deeper understanding of the Sensus water, electric and gas businesses and forge a clear path forward. Under Colin’s leadership, I expect this business to expedite innovation to bring intelligent solutions to market quickly for our customers and develop new platforms for organic and inorganic growth."

Randy will assume an advisory role to Decker focusing on driving operational improvements at some of Xylem’s major manufacturing facilities around the world. He developed extensive expertise in this area during his years with Sensus, Kinetek and General Electric.

Decker continued, "Randy has led the Sensus business for the past four years with distinction and made so many valuable contributions. I look forward to his contributions as he takes on this important new advisory role in an area where he has a long history of success."

Meet our new leader

Colin served as Senior Vice President and President of Xylem’s Analytics and Treatment businesses from September 2015 through March 2017, and was responsible for all aspects of their global operations. With the combination of Xylem’s Sensus, Analytics and Visenti businesses in April 2017, Colin maintained his role as President of Xylem Analytics and assumed additional responsibility for Sensus North America sales across the water, electric and gas utility sectors. In this role, he worked with Randy on the integration of these businesses to enable increased collaboration and advance Xylem’s performance in the smart infrastructure space. Colin served as President of Xylem’s Dewatering business from 2013 to September 2015, and he was Chief Strategy & Growth Officer of Xylem when it spun from ITT in 2011. He joined ITT in 2006 and served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Fluid and Motion Control.

Before joining ITT, Colin held a variety of leadership positions with General Electric (GE), including Chief Financial Officer for GE Energy Services, Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions for GE Corporate and Chief Marketing Officer for GE Water.

Colin is Chairman of Xylem Watermark, the company’s corporate citizenship and social investment program. He graduated from Alfred University in New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in materials engineering.

Parting thoughts from Randy

Little did I know when I joined Sensus in November 2013 what sort of adventure I was in for. It’s been an incredible journey. At times, exhilarating. At others, challenging. Always rewarding.

Through it all, you’ve been our guiding star. You demanded the best from us and yourselves. You’ve been more than a customer. You’ve been our partner, a part of our family.

Sensus has both the best customers and the best team in the industry. I’m proud of where we’ve been and energized by what the future holds. Success is a certainty as together, we continue to reach farther.

Given the run of destructive storms we’ve experienced this summer, we begin this issue with a word of thanks for all of you who helped people put their lives back together in areas ravaged by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria.

As soon as it was safe, you came from wherever you were—be it the next town over or across the country—leaving your family and friends behind to help victims of the storms put their lives back together.

Never before in our nation’s history have we been hit by so many catastrophic storms.

The damage was devastating. You, however, were undaunted.

Words cannot begin to do justice to your efforts. But they’re all we have.

Thank you for your dedication.

Thank you for your selflessness.

Thank you for your perserverance.

Your efforts remind us that together, there’s no burden too great, no obstacle too large. And that nothing’s out of reach.

For Eastern Municipal Water District’s (EMWD) field technicians, manually reading 148,000 meters across a 555 square mile service area was a daunting, time-consuming task. Further, missing data limited the organization’s ability to provide customer service and support conservation efforts.

Since implementing the Sensus FlexNet® communication network, however, employees have helped more than 2,300 customers identify leaks in their homes. The efficiency gains have been significant, too. Without FlexNet, leaders estimate it would take as many as eight additional staff members to manually read the meters of the utility’s growing population.

Read the case study to learn more.

Got a compelling story of your own? One that will educate and enlighten others in the industry? We want to hear from you. Contact Paula Dickerson, and share your story. The next customer highlighted here could be you.

Over the last decade, advances in communication technology have opened the door to smart grid and smart city initiatives. These developments enable utilities to leverage the Internet of Things (IoT) to increase efficiency and reliability.

Advances in solar and battery technology have opened the door to distributed energy resources. Power generation components can be placed anywhere, disrupting the traditional flow of energy on the system. Utilities must now ask themselves, “How do I communicate and control these devices?”

As this evolution continues, older solutions such as power line carrier communication (PLCC) can no longer keep up and provide the connectivity required to realize the benefits new technology offers. Nor can they solve the challenges these new technologies bring to the grid.

But the FlexNet® communication system can.

Take the next step

So, how do you keep up? Choose the solution that gives you the flexibility to deploy at your own pace.

Unlike mesh-based communication solutions, the FlexNet system’s point-to-multipoint architecture does not require you to connect through multiple meters to communicate efficiently and extend coverage.

With the FlexNet system, you can handle installation on your schedule without disruption to your service or capabilities. You’ll be up and running with less infrastructure build out.

“Sensus can provide a solution that enables you to migrate at your own pace while offering the capabilities you currently have with your existing PLCC system. Plus, we can position you to take advantage of the extended capabilities you’ll need and want in the future,” said Greg Myers, Vice President, Global Electric Marketing and Partnerships.

Effective, extendable and efficient

A long-range radio solution operating over licensed spectrum, FlexNet provides the most effective coverage for both urban and rural areas as well as those in between. Because it allows you to leverage existing substations and communication towers, it offers the lowest cost of ownership, too.

Further, FlexNet provides support for Distribution Automation (DA) and Demand Response (DR) on the same network infrastructure, giving you the capacity to grow as your needs—your customers’ needs—evolve.

Tell me more

Interested? Contact Jared Gregory, Product Manager, Electric Solutions Marketing for more information.

Need a reference manual or installation guide? How about a firmware update for your device? Maybe you want a quick refresher on an RNI administrative task? You’ll find it all—and more—on My Sensus, your one location to manage your relationship with us.

Resources galore

Designed with your needs in mind, My Sensus is the first place you should go to access important information about our technology and solutions. It gives you:

• Documentation for both current and discontinued products
• The latest generally available software downloads
• A library of Product Information Notices (PINs)
• Ideas, a cloud-based suggestion box where you can share feedback for product improvements, request new features for future releases or even suggest a new product that doesn’t yet exist
• Self-service ticket management for submitting, editing and tracking your technical support and return material authorization (RMA) cases
• Education modules that teach you how to configure and use our products

Get access today

If you manage, install, configure or maintain Sensus products, My Sensus will help you get the most out of your organization’s investment in us. Don’t already have an account? Request one today. We’ll get you started.

If you do have an account, let us know how we’re doing or suggest improvements. Log your comments in the Ideas suggestion box. They’ll be reviewed, rated and acted upon.

Another Sensus Reach Conference has come and gone. Many new connections were made. Old relationships renewed. And original ideas sparked.

Nearly 1,000 of you attended the more than 170 sessions designed to showcase smart city innovation and strategy. You swapped stories and shared experiences, learning from one another how best to leverage Sensus technology to improve the quality of life in your communities.

Celebrate those who reach farther

A number of accounts rose to the top, and we’re proud to have recognized the best of the best with the Sensus Reach^SM Awards. This year, we honored one distributor, two customers and one employee for their innovation, problem solving and results.

• Distributor, Customer First: Jeff Swart, AMR/AMI Director, Equipment Controls Company
• Customer, Commercial: David Gayneaux, Meter Services Manager, Eastern Municipal Water District
• Customer, Community: Rik Thijssen, Manager of Business Development, Vitens
• Sensus Employee, Customer First: Alesa Stewart, Project Manager for the Southeast U.S.

The stars will shine in Florida

Mark your calendar now for October 21 to 24, 2018. That’s when stars of the public sector will converge on Hollywood—Hollywood, Florida.

Pre-register now, and we’ll let you know when registration opens next year. We’ll see you there!

Recently we caught up with Eddie Augusto, Chairman, Sensus Partner and Advisor Network (SPAN), and Manager of Retail Metering, Alectra Utilities, to get a recap of the organization’s activities in 2017. Read on to learn more.

"Lots of companies talk about the importance of customers, but Sensus demonstrates its commitment to customers over and over," said Augusto. "We see it every day in the resources Sensus devotes to SPAN."

Those resources have been essential to two of the organization’s most significant accomplishments this year: the creation of focus groups and ongoing enhancements to SPAN Community. Both were prioritized by former SPAN Chairman Dominic Longo and remained an area of emphasis after he stepped down in July to become SPAN User Community Manager at Sensus.

We’re listening

Product development is not as simple as build a widget and they will come. Behind-the-scenes work and two-way communication between the manufacturer and customers are central to any successful solution launch.

To help facilitate that communication, SPAN initiated two focus groups this year. One centers on the Regional Network Interface (RNI)™ and the other on technical communications.

These two groups have engaged people across the entire Sensus customer base. Representatives have come together to share their experiences and their pain points with Sensus liaisons.

It’s too early to point to large change in the solution set, but it’s not too early to say the customer voice is being heard.

Continuing to refine the community

Last spring, we introduced SPAN Community, your one-stop portal containing all the information SPAN members regularly need.

You’ve adopted it with relish, turning to it to connect with one another, get updates about upcoming events and stay on top of trending topics.

Having this information readily available has made a tremendous impact on not only communication but also productivity. Members are better informed coming into meetings so time is spent more effectively. That more efficient flow of information also enabled us to cut back on some meetings, freeing you up for other activities.

Become a member now

You might be wondering how you can get in on the action. It’s easy. Join SPAN and participate.

"Being involved in SPAN allows you to leverage the insight and knowledge of people who have been there before you," said Augusto. "But your input is equally important. SPAN lets you learn from others while you give back. Join today."

Want more information? Contact Augusto at 905-532-4433 or [email protected].

• Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN) North American Alliance Workshop
  November 6, 2017
  Uptake, Chicago, IL
  

  Chris Thomson, Sensus Product Manager for the Smart Water Cycle, will deliver opening remarks on the smart water cycle. Sensus is a proud sponsor of the evening networking reception, too.

• Rural Smart Grid Summit
  November 12-14, 2017
  Saddlebrook Resort & Spa, Tampa, FL
  

  David Stair, Sensus Senior Director for the Southeast Region of North America Energy Sales, will provide an overview of how rural utilities can effectively transition toward an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) solution. Sensus is a title sponsor of the 2017 Rural Smart Grid Summit.

• North American Water Loss Conference
  December 3-5, 2017
  Paradise Point Resort, San Diego, CA
  

  Travis Smith, Sensus Director of Smart Water Strategy, will deliver a presentation entitled “Revenue Protection and Recovery for Small-to-Mid-Sized Utilities” on December 5 from 7:55 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. (PST). Sensus is a proud gold sponsor of the 2017 North American Water Loss Conference.

• DistribuTECH
  January 23-25, 2018
  Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX
  

  Derl Rhoades, Systems Development and Support Manager at Alabama Power Company, and Jared Gregory, Product Manager, Electric Solutions Marketing at Sensus, will conduct a session entitled “Evaluating Phase Detection on the Distribution System and Lessons Learned from Deployment” on Thursday, January 25 starting at approximately 9 a.m. (CST).

• For the fourth consecutive year, the Sensus Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solution was honored by municipal utility executives as the “Best Smart Utility Solution” during the Municipal Smart Grid Summit (MSGS).
  
  
• With a large, sparsely populated service territory, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) turned to Sensus to automate data collection and lower costs. Selecting the Sensus AMI solution comprised of Stratus ^® electricity meters and the FlexNet communication network, the co-op has identified more than 40 operational benefits of the solution and reduced truck rolls by more than 1,100 in the first four weeks.
  
  
• It used to be that monitoring lake levels to improve flood prevention capabilities (page 31) was a time-consuming, resource-draining task for the City of Lakeland, Florida. No longer. With the Sensus ^® Smart Gateway Sensor Interface and the FlexNet system, the city’s scientists are able to collect water level data remotely in real time. The monitoring process used to take up the majority of the technician’s time during the work week, but now that time has been reduced dramatically with IoT technology.
  
  
• Ever wonder the cash flow and savings you could realize by applying the Sensus AMI solution to your smart water network? There’s an easy way to find out with our new return on investment (ROI) calculator. Enter the values specific for your proposed deployment, and the calculator will compute the estimated results. You can also download the results into a report to share and request a demo. Already here is the ROI calculator for your gas AMI deployment and coming soon is one for electric.
  
  
• Sensus Senior Product Manager Chris Atkins offers his insight about Bringing Gas Meters into the 21^st Century in Pipeline & Gas Journal.