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Customer Satisfaction
Profile - Time House
Even
though it is dwarfed by its new surroundings, Times House still stands
proud… a distinguished landmark at the junction of River Valley and
Kim Seng Roads. It is 'home' to over 750 people and, over the decades,
has housed generations of journalists who work through day and night to
bring you the world's news before the crack of dawn every day.
Mr David Ow is Maintenance Engineer at Times House. With his staff of 10, he is responsible for maintaining building services - which means ensuring everything is in working order: all mechanical and engineering installations, pre-press equipment and building services - including toilets, sewerage, water tank, etc.
"It's a 24-hour job, and my staff and I have to keep on our toes. We can't wait for something to break down and fix it," says Mr Ow.
"We've used Carrier for as long as I can remember. In fact, we still have a chiller that is over 30 years old, and it is still in good condition!"
Almost all the cooling power at Times House is provided for by Carrier. The chiller plant houses 4 x 60-ton and 2 x 100-ton chillers 30HR100. In addition there are several packaged units, splits, and cassettes used as supplementary units or backup.
In the old days, the news was put together - typewritten, typeset, and pasted up - by hand and, even without air conditioning, everything worked fine. With the advent of computers in desktop publishing and pre-press work, keeping the office cool becomes critical as the equipment generates a lot of heat.
In some rooms temperatures have to be maintained within a tightly controlled range of 20º - 21ºC. "When people get hot, they may put up with it; when electronic equipment like computers do, they break down… and we cannot afford to let that happen." exclaimed Mr Ow.
That is where the Carrier Man steps in.
The Carrier Man has been helping to keep Times House cooled for 30 years. Whether there is a problem or not, and in addition to regular maintenance checks, Mr Ow gets calls from his Carrier Supervisor, Mr Tan Yew Kong every week to check on things and catch up on 'chit chat'.
He says, "It's a relationship that works, because you don't get a feeling it's only a job for them. The teamwork is good - between the Carrier supervisor and his men, and also between my staff and them."
Because it is critical that the air-conditioning doesn't break down, reliability of product and service is paramount. Mr Ow continues, "Working directly with Carrier service techinicians, they have their reputation to maintain, and I can be sure the parts are 100% original, and they have their name to upkeep."
On one occasion, a power surge caused an electrical short circuit in the air con compressor unit UPS (uninterrupted power supply) room, reducing capacity down to 40%. This happened at 9pm, a critical time. Mr Ow says Carrier supervisor showed up promptly and helped diagnose the problem and helped solve it even though it was his off working hours.
Concluded Mr Ow, "With Carrier's help, my job in keeping everyone cool is made easier, and I'm glad to say that the only thing hot around here is the news!"
