A BARKS PUBLICATION
JANUARY 2026 / $12
A BARKS PUBLICATION
JANUARY 2026 / $12
Electrical Apparatus
Robotics,
automation,
and AI
paratus
More than Motors
AI’s impact on EVs
AI’s impact on EVs
Our new teammate, AI
Our new teammate, AI
Monitoring power quality
Monitoring power quality
Management effi ciency hacks
Management effi ciency hacks
AI in water management
AI in water management
Smoky Mountains, TN, USA
865-983-7444
info@iccinternational.com
www.iccinternational.com/quote
ICC International
Improving commutators is our job.
–
Every detail matters.
Uncompromised quality isn’t a claim –
it’s at the foundation of everything we do.
EA Reader Profile
18 From non-profits to industrial label manufacturer
How Sarah Hilton built a career across industries, one
conversation at a time
By Colin Gregory-Moores, EA Contributing Writer
Say It Right
21 Drop the high-falutin’ language!
Paring down your English — and using the active, not
passive, voice — makes for better communication
By Richard L. Nailen
Electric Avenue
22 AI’s impact on EVs
How artificial intelligence is optimizing battery efficiency,
personalizing comfort, and streamlining manufacturing
By Maura Keller, EA Contributing Writer
Automation
25 Our new teammate, AI
Artificial intelligence promises an engineering world unbound
by human bias
By Fazli Acikgoz, EA Contributing Writer
Power Transmission & Distribution
29 Power plays
How to monitor and protect electrical power quality to prevent
equipment damage and downtime
By David Bredhold, EA Contributing Writer
Index Of Articles
34 Our annual five-year index of feature articles, 2021-2025
By the Electrical Apparatus staff
Finance & The Workplace
42 Building a business structure that works
Learn which type of corporate entity is right for your needs
By William H. Wiersema, CPA, EA Contributing Editor
Plant Life
46 Efficiency hacks for the new year
Improve your operations with skills matrix staff scheduling, flex
zones, and load-based scheduling
By Bill O’Leary, EA Contributing Writer
Safety & Health
48 A double-edged sword
Robots require a new set of safety precautions despite the
promise of making for a safer workplace
By Charlie Barks, EA Managing Editor
Energy
49 Take a peak
Energy investments are at an all-time high, whether green in the
climate or on paper
By Charlie Barks, EA Managing Editor
Pump It Up
50 AI to the rescue
How artificial intelligence is making itself useful in all phases of
water management
By Kevin Jones, EA Senior Editor
22
25
50
Contents
A BARKS PUBLICATION
VOLUME 79 / NUMBER 01
WWW.BARKS.COM
01/26
— SergeyBitos / Shutterstock image
— Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock photo
— Adobe Firefly generative AI image
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026 1
04 The editor’s comment
Robotics and automation: not so new anymore
05 Let’s solve your problem
Answers to questions about motor application and maintenance
06 Calendar
Events on HVACR, facility management, pumps, and manufacturing
08 Associations
Organizations lay down ground rules for using AI
10 Know your industry
SPRINT Robotics Collaborative covers the industry
14 Utilities
Good news and bad news for electric utilities about AI
16 Business
Manufacturers leading the charge in AI and automation
24 Names & faces
Changes at Conductive Containers and Apex Industrial Automation
24 Plant happenings
Plant openings, closings, and relocations around the U.S.
44 Product showcase
What’s new in tools, materials, and electric vehicle chargers
52 Classifi ed advertising
Your monthly marketplace for equipment, businesses, and more
52 Cy’s Super Service
The electrical service industry’s most prominent curmudgeon
COVER PHOTO: By Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock. Autonomous Robots transport organic vegetables at a vertical
farm.
14
44
Departments
53 EA puzzle
A word search puzzle based on “Our new teammate, AI” (page 25)
55 Moe, Genny & friends
The surreal world of an anthropomorphized motor and generator
56 Direct & current
CWIEME Berlin gets a motor forum and U.S. trade defi cit narrows
56 Advertising index
Who’s who—and who’s where—in this issue of Electrical Apparatus
— SPRINT Robotics Collaborative illustration
— Image by Adobe Firefl y generative AI
— Dewalt Industrial Tool Co. photo
10
2 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026
The Editor’s
Comment
It’s becoming redundant to quip, “Robotics and automation
are here to stay.” These technologies used to be considered
adjacent innovations, largely optional and only tangentially
related to the core electric motor industry of most Electrical
Apparatus readers and advertisers.
Long gone are the days when that was the case.
About half the businesses our editors have visited in the
past fi ve years have utilized some form of robotics or automa-
tion. This may come in the form of a single mechanism (think
smaller robotic arms or a small-size 3D printer) at smaller
shops or larger-scale services that include automated cells at
bigger facilities. That theme is refl ected as well at the annual
convention of the Electrical Apparatus Service Association,
where automated tech is increasingly visible from booths
to educational sessions. And of course, that’s just the EASA
crowd. Many trade shows outside the service shop realm
have been focusing on — or pushing, depending on your opin-
ion — robotics and automation for well over a decade. It’s just
something that’s part of the industrial world now.
This month, we look into the latest developments in the
automation and robotics space, which include a lot of prog-
ress with . . . you guessed it, AI. Contributing Writer Fazli
Acikgoz covers autonomous robots and their relation-
ship with AI in our January cover story, entitled “Our new
friend, AI” (page 25). The article includes extensive dives
into modern examples from major companies like Vestas,
Tesla, General Motors, Autodesk, and BMW. Note that Fazli
is an accomplished mechanical engineer, a one-time global
member of IEEE, and an HVAC design specialist. Interesting
examples of robotics improvements covered in this article
include the ability to recognize anomalous objects on a pro-
duction line and fi gure out grasp points.
Another area of development gaining traction is robotic
safety, which, as you’ll see in this month’s “Safety & health”
article (page 48), is becoming a double-edged sword. Many
robots are said to be designed to improve safety. They also
require an entirely new set of safety precautions for humans
who work around them. Also in this issue, Contributing
Writer David Bredhold, in “Power plays” (page 29), covers
power condition monitoring, protection, and correction.
Speaking of corrections: In the December EA cover article,
“Kinks in the chain,” we misidentifi ed Thomas Jordan as gov-
ernor of the Swiss central bank. Jordan, who resigned a year
ago, is now the former chairman of the governing board. Also,
a photo in the same article, on page 30, should have been
credited to Super Radiator Coils.
As always, we hope everyone has a great start to the new
year!
CHARLIE BARKS
WWW.BARKS.COM
CHARLIE@BARKS.COM
Robotics and automation:
not so new anymore
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4 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026
Have you been stumped recently by an electromechanical applica-
tion or repair problem? Send your question to this department, at
editor@barks.com, and we’ll see if we can give you an answer. —
Editor
The right-hand rule
In our electrical distribution firm, we host a quarterly train-
ing event for our customers and employees. One of our guests
asked us to explain the “right-hand rule.” What is this rule and
how does it relate to motors and generators?
This is a good question, as the right-hand rule has more than one
application.
Perhaps the simplest version of the rule demonstrates the mag-
netic field caused by current in a wire. The magnetic field caused
by current in a straight wire curls around the wire in a ring. Point
your right thumb in the direction of the current in the wire. Curl
your fingers and the magnetic field around the wire will be in the
same direction.
Another version of the rule uses three fingers. Point the index fin-
ger of your right hand straight away from you. Curl your middle
finger at a right angle pointing to the left. Your thumb is straight
up. Your right hand now gives the magnetic relationships of moving
positive charges. Your index finger is the direction of the moving
positive charge. Your middle finger is the direction of the magnetic
field, and your thumb points in the direction of the magnetic force
pushing on the charge.
Intermittent duty versus variable duty
We have a need to specify applications for electric motors for
cranes and hoist applications. We are aware of intermittent
duty and variable duty ratings. What is the difference?
Both NEMA MG1 and IEC 60034-1 define motor duty as the pat-
tern of load running time and rest time. It tells the manufacturer
the winding temperature will rise and fall in normal use, which
determines frame size, insulation class, and cooling design.
Intermittent duty (often designated S2 or S3) assumes the motor
runs for a short time at rated load. Then the motor stops long
enough to cool nearly to ambient. Or at least the motor cools in a
predictable way.
Think of a crane hoist, dam gate, or indexing press. The motor
can safely exceed its continuous current rating briefly, but only if
it cools between cycles. Variable duty (S9/S10) describes operation
with frequent load and speed changes with no cool-down. These
are typical in inverter-driven systems, mill drives, and mining con-
veyors. The thermal profile is continuously changing, so the motor
must be designed to handle repetitive temperature swings.
An intermittent-duty motor can deliver high short-term torque in
a smaller frame because it never reaches steady-state heat. But if
you use that same motor under a variable-duty or continuous-cycle
load, temperature will climb with each run with eventual prema-
ture failure. A variable-duty motor is built to withstand constant
load fluctuation, frequent starts, and elevated surface tempera-
ture without degradation. Intermittent duty relies on predictable
cooling periods to manage heat. Variable duty assumes constant
cycling and designs for that.
Surge capacitors and lightning arrestors
We recently purchased a reconditioned 1500 hp vertical
motor for a pump application in an aggregate plant. The ter-
minal voltage of this machine is 4160 volts a-c. The motor was
shipped with capacitors in the junction box, but the capacitors
are not installed. What are the capacitors used for, and how
should they be installed?
When a large motor is switched, especially through a vacuum con-
tactor or breaker, steep voltage surges can travel down the cables
and hit the first few turns of the stator winding. These fast front
transients can produce partial discharge or turn-to-turn break-
down, particularly in older motors not built to modern impulse
withstand standards.
A surge capacitor acts as a shock absorber for voltage. It doesn’t
carry a current in normal operation, but when a surge appears, it
momentarily conducts, slowing the voltage rise and distributing the
stress evenly across the winding. For that reason, it must be con-
nected in parallel, line-to-line or line-to-ground, not in series.
Most surge capacitors on 4 kV machines are rated between 0.05
and 0.25 microfarads. At 4.16 kV or higher, they’re installed as
close as possible to the motor terminals to minimize lead induc-
tance. Sometimes they’re paired with resistors or MOVs to further
shape or clamp the surge. — Edited by the EA staff
EA
Let’s Solve Your Problem
An intermittent-duty motor can
deliver high short-term torque
in a smaller frame because it
never reaches steady-state
heat
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026 5
Update your calendar with these upcoming
trade shows, conferences, and other events.
Do you know of an event that you think we
should bring to the attention of Electrical
Apparatus readers? E-mail us about it at edi-
tor@barks.com.
• January 31-February 4, 2026
— 2026 ASHRAE Winter Conference, Cae-
sars Palace, Las Vegas, Nev. American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-
Conditioning Engineers, www.ashrae.org/
conferences/2026-winter-conference.
• February 2-4, 2026 — AHR Expo
2026, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las
Vegas, Nev. The Air-Conditioning, Heating,
and Refrigeration Institute, https://www.
ahrexpo.com.
• February 8-11, 2026 — NEMRA 2026:
Power Tomorrow, Today, Orlando World
Center Marriott, Orlando, Fla. National
Electrical
Manufacturers
Representa-
tives Association, https://www.nemra.org/
your-guide-to-nemra26-annual-confer
ence-orlando.
•February 11-13, 2026 — AFE For-
ward,
Hyatt
Regency
Sacramento,
Sacramento, Calif. Association for Facili-
ties Engineering, https://bit.ly/47uQFbg.
• February 22-26, 2026 — Hydraulic
Institute 2026 Annual Conference, Saw-
grass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa, Ponte
Vedra Beach, Fla. Hydraulic Institute,
www.pumps.org/event/2026-annual-con
ference.
• March 2-6, 2026 — PowerTest 2026,
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention
Center, Nashville, Tenn. InterNational
Electrical Testing Association, https://bit.
ly/4cMrfZ5.
• March 10-12, 2026 — NFMT East
2026, Charlotte Convention Center, Char-
lotte, N.C. National Facilities Management
& Technology Conference & Expo, https://
www.nfmt.com/Charlotte/2026.
•March 15-18, 2026 — ACCA 2026,
Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel and
Casino, Las Vegas, Nev. Air Conditioning
Contractors of America, www.accaconfer
ence.com.
• March 25-26, 2026 — Coiltech
Deutschland 2026, Messe Augsburg,
Augsburg, Germany. QUiCKFairs, http://
bit.ly/4lJgHh2.
• April 7-9, 2026 — Facility Fusion
2026, Hilton San Francisco Union
Square, San Francisco, Calif. Inter-
national
Facility
Management
Association, https://facilityfusion.ifma.
org.
• April 13-15, 2026 — NECA Emerge:
A Specialty Work and Emerging Oppor-
tunities Conference, Marriott Marquis,
Atlanta, Ga. National Electrical Contrac-
tors Association, www.necanet.org/emerge.
• April 23-25, 2026 — Pearl Annual
Conference 2026, Cleveland Metro-
politan at The 9, Cleveland, Ohio.
Professional Electrical Apparatus Recon-
ditioners League, https://pearl1.org/con
ference-details-copy.
• May 12-14, 2026 — NAED 2026
National Meeting, Signia by Hilton
Orlando Bonnet Creek, Orlando, Fla.
National Association of Electrical Distribu-
tors, www.naed.org/national-meeting.
•May 12-14, 2026 — Fabtech Mexico,
Centro Banamex, Mexico City, Mexico.
Fabtech Event Partners, https://mexico.
fabtechexpo.com.
•May 19-21, 2026 — CWIEME Ber-
lin, Messe Berlin, Berlin, Germany. Coil
Winding, Insulation & Electrical Manu-
facturing Exhibition, https://berlin.cwieme
events.com/page-en/homepage.
Calendar
•June 1-4, 2026 — Cleanpower 2026,
George R. Brown Convention Center,
Houston, Tex. The American Clean Power
Association, https://cleanpower.org/expo.
•June 9-11, 2026 — Fabtech Can-
ada, Toronto Congress Centre, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. Fabtech Event Partners,
https://canada.fabtechexpo.com.
• June 10-11, 2026 — Coiltech North
America 2026, Suburban Collection
Showplace, Novi, Mich. QUiCKFairs, www.
coiltech.us.
• June 13-16, 2026 — EASA Solutions
Expo, Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla.
Electrical Apparatus Service Association,
https://easa.com/convention.
• August 5-7, 2026 — NSPECon 26,
New York Marriott at the Brooklyn
Bridge, New York, N.Y. National Society of
Professional Engineers, www.nspecon.org.
•September 13-15, 2026 — EGSA
Fall 2026 Conference, Town & Country
Resort, Crystal City, Va. Electrical Generat-
ing Systems Association, https://egsa.org/
Events/Future-EGSA-Conferences.
• September 14-19, 2026 — Interna-
tional Manufacturing Technology Show,
McCormick Place, Chicago. Association
for Manufacturing Technology, www.imts.
com/index.cfm.
• June 11-14, 2027 — Electrical Appa-
ratus
Service
Association
Solutions
Expo, Ernest N. Morial Convention Cen-
ter & Hilton Riverside, New Orleans, La.
Electrical Apparatus Service Association,
https://easa.com/convention/future-easa-
conventions.
• June 24-27, 2028 — Electrical Appa-
ratus
Service
Association
Solutions
Expo, Pennsylvania Convention Center &
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Phila-
delphia, Pa. Electrical Apparatus Service
Association, https://easa.com/convention/
future-easa-conventions. — Edited by Kevin
Jones
EA
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the most comprehensive shop management
system in the electrical apparatus industry
Organizations lay down
ground rules for using AI
There’s no question that organizations
serving the electrical industry have been
diligent in reporting about the use of arti-
fi cial intelligence among suppliers that
serve their members. The U.K.’s Associa-
tion of Electrical and Mechanical Trades,
to take just one example, informed its
members last summer about ABB’s
launch of My Measurement Assistant+, an
AI-powered digital tool for maintenance
and troubleshooting of measurement
devices at industrial sites.
But associations are increasingly using
AI for their own internal operations as
well, and with the use of AI has come the
need to articulate internal policies cover-
ing how and within what constraints AI
may be used.
The American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engi-
neers, for example, last February issued
a document intended to guide the ethi-
cal application of artifi cial intelligence
across the organization’s several enter-
prises. ASHRAE is a publisher of technical
standards, an organizer of conferences,
an educator, and a research institution all
in one. Its internal AI policy is therefore
comprehensive, and it applies to employ-
ees, contractors, and volunteers alike.
The policy defi nes several permissible
uses of AI, saying that AI may be employed
in analyzing large data sets for research,
editing text for grammar and phrasing,
generating ideas for new projects, inte-
grating with educational tools such as
personalized course recommendations,
and assisting with the management of
conferences.
ASHRAE’s AI policy also establishes
clear limits. “AI cannot be used to
independently draft or fi nalize offi -
cial technical guidelines, standards, or
research papers published by ASHRAE,”
the policy states. For all AI-generated con-
tent, review by a fl esh-and-blood human
being is required.
The policy also prohibits the use of
recording bots or AI-based transcription
tools during meetings, conferences, and
webinars unless presenters give explicit
permission. Users must abide by copy-
right laws.
Such is the AI policy of ASHRAE. Con-
sider also the AI policy of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology,
or NIST, an agency of the U.S. Dept. of
Commerce whose mission is to promote
American innovation and industrial com-
petitiveness. NIST’s AI policy, prepared
on behalf of the agency by the consult-
ing fi rm Booz Allen Hamilton, proposes a
structured governance approach built on
four “pillars”:
> The fi rst pillar is Responsible AI, which
requires embedding ethical principles
into a product’s entire lifecycle, from
designing a commercial product through
system deployment and use. Ethical AI,
the policy says, becomes meaningful only
when AI’s impact on human beings is
considered.
> The second pillar, AI Readiness,
focuses on building a “culture of AI adop-
tion.” This requires thorough training and
clear communication to improve trust
and to break down organizational barri-
ers. The policy maintains that staff across
all roles should have a baseline technical
understanding so they can contribute col-
laboratively throughout the development
lifecycle.
> The third pillar of NIST’s AI policy,
Management of AI Risk, provides a mecha-
nism of checks and balances. It requires
a governance process to evaluate projects
and mitigate risks related to ethics, bias,
and the execution of complex tasks. This
process involves four sequential stages:
fi rst, defi ning the mission or objective;
next, doing an assessment to establish
milestones and thresholds; third, ensur-
ing
applied
governance
through
Associations
Upcoming
webinars, continued
In last month’s “Associations,” we
looked at some webinars being of-
fered by associations through the end
of February. Some of these webinars
were held in early December. The
good news is that several of the webi-
nars are going to be held on a rotating
basis well into the spring. Here are a
few of them:
American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning
Engineers: “HVAC Design & Opera-
tion: Level I.” A multi-day virtual course
covering the fundamentals of HVACR
system design and sizing; March 23-27,
April 13-17 (https://bit.ly/4oF09an).
American Society of Mechanical
Engineers. “ASME NQA-1 Require-
ments for Computer Software Used in
Nuclear Facilities”; Feb. 23-24; April
13-14 (http://bit.ly/43GKpvO). “ASME
BPV Code, Section VIII, Division 1:
Pressure Vessel Combo Course”; Feb.
16-24, March 9-17, April 6-14 (http://bit.
ly/4qAgAqy). “API 579-1/ASME FFS-1
Fitness-for-Service”; April 13-15, May
4-8, June 1-5, June 15-17 (http://bit.
ly/47vIjjs). — KJ
8 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026
continuous oversight by governing bod-
ies; and finally, achieving compliance
through verification and validation.
> The fourth and final pillar, Opera-
tionalizing AI, explains the necessity of
providing resources and guidance to
accelerate implementation using proven
frameworks such as an AI Reference
Architecture. This architecture standard-
izes concepts and processes, such as data
delivery, machine learning workflows,
observability for drift detection, and
ensuring technical alignment and consis-
tency.
The authors say that “Prioritizing con-
siderations such as fair outcomes, clear
lines of accountability when things go
wrong, and transparency into how the Al
system itself was built and how it oper-
ates, will ensure that these tools are used
in a manner consistent with an organiza-
tion’s ‘Responsible Al’ values and help
proactively mitigate ethical risks before
they arise.”
Artificial intelligence, at least in its cur-
rent incarnation, is new. These policies
governing the use of artificial intelligence
are newer still. Universally accepted pol-
icy standards have yet to evolve. And yet
if the examples of ASHRAE and NIST are
anything to go by, patterns are beginning
to emerge:
> Both ASHRAE and NIST place a prior-
ity on human oversight. ASHRAE insists
on human review for all AI-generated
content used in official publications, and
NIST says that the application of AI must
put people at the center.
> Both policies outline processes for
managing the risk of bias. ASHRAE
requires regular assessment of AI sys-
tems for bias detection and mitigation
efforts, while the NIST policy includes
bias assessment as a crucial stage within
its Risk Management Framework.
> Another point of shared philoso-
phy is the commitment to operational
transparency. ASHRAE mandates clear
disclosure to stakeholders when AI is
used in processes that affect them, such
as data analysis, and NIST lists transpar-
ency as a core ethical value.
> Finally, both organizations address
security and the need to protect pro-
prietary information. ASHRAE outlines
rules for securing sensitive member and
research data, while the NIST framework
dedicates an entire section to security.
Perhaps these examples might serve as
a template for other organizations seek-
ing to tame this extraordinary new tool
— a tool that many of us are becoming
dependent on. — Kevin Jones
EA
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026 9
An organization dedicated to
robotic inspection and maintenance
SPRINT Robotics Collaborative
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: De Melkfabriek, Larenseweg 32-A3, 1221
CN Hilversum, the Netherlands
Annual Dues: N/A
Website: https://sprintrobotics.org
In 2015, the North American robotics industry was
advancing at record speed. During the first half of that
year, “a record 14,232 robots, valued at $840 million,
were ordered from North American robotics compa-
nies,” according to the Robotic Industries Association.
These robots spanned industry areas like semiconduc-
tors, automotive components, life sciences, and more.
That same year, the establishment of SPRINT Robotics
Collaborative arrived.
The not-for-profit organization still stands today, more
than a decade later, and self-identifies as an “indus-
try-driven initiative that promotes the development,
availability, and application of robotics techniques in
technical inspections, maintenance, and operation of
capital-intensive infrastructure,” according to the orga-
nization. Headquartered in the Netherlands, with a U.S.
office in Houston and another in Singapore, SPRINT is
an international organization invested in inspection
and maintenance robotics. The organization defines its
vision as achieving “field use of robotics for Inspection &
Maintenance (I&M) of capital-intensive infrastructure assets on a large scale
to address immediate needs and long-term industry priorities.”
In real-world applications, inspection and maintenance robots are mobile
robots that can survey and inspect places like old buildings and unstable
structures that are too risky for human inspectors to reach. These types of
robots can include those equipped for land, air drones, and underwater sur-
veyors.
Around 100 organizations support SPRINT as members, and the organiza-
tion intends for membership to support the entire value chain, “connecting
asset owners and operators to service and technology providers,” according
to SPRINT. Members join a global network of fellow companies and orga-
nizations with vested interests and work in inspection and maintenance
robotics. Membership is available on an organizational level, which grants
benefits to a company’s entire employee base. This includes events, down-
loadable publications, and access to online communities.
Two levels of membership are available with SPRINT: participant and
associate participant. Associate participant membership is open to all com-
panies, institutes, and organizations, whereas participant membership is
offered only to asset owners and operators. Membership benefits for asso-
ciate participants include access to the SR Community online networking
platform, exclusive newsletters, and complimentary participation in SPRINT
events and meetings. According to the organization, the SR Community plat-
form “brings inspection and maintenance robotics professionals around the
globe together, providing SPRINT Robotics members a central place to col-
laborate, share knowledge, and keep up to date with SPRINT Robotics events
and activities.”
Participant membership includes all of these benefits in addition to a
seat on SPRINT’s program committee and the ability to vote on governance
issues, budgets, and priorities at SPRINT.
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SPRINT expanded to North America a year after its founding and later
to Asia-Pacifi c in 2018. SPRINT is currently divided into four regional
chapters: SREU (Europe), SRNA (North America), SRAP (Asia-Pacifi c), and
SRLA (Latin America). Across the organization’s global membership base,
four action groups and task forces are off ered to members to join, includ-
ing surveillance robotics, task-based robotics, integration, and power
and energy.
The fi rst action group focuses on surveillance robots, which “spend
all of their time on-site, regularly executing scheduled actions, such as
surveillance, or executing actions in response to normal operational situ-
ations and changes,” according to the organization. Task-based robots
“generally are brought to, or stored on, the site for a certain incidental
action, such as fabric maintenance, focused inspection, or emergency
response.” The integration action group focuses on alternative energy,
workfl ow management, and artifi cial intelligence. The power and energy
sector works with wind, hydrogen, solar, and carbon capture energy
sources.
SPRINT also off ers a number of publications online, both for free and
for purchase, that cover topics like operational deployment best prac-
tices, explosion safety, and remote operations. Several of these reports,
documents, and publications get their start with the organization’s action
groups, who identify a need for research or coverage.
The organization hosts events throughout the year. These include chap-
ter meetings, member trips, online webinars, casual membership social
events, and conferences. SPRINT’s partnership with StocExpo will take
the form of SPRINT Robotics Zone at StocExpo March 10-11 in the Neth-
erlands’ Rotterdam Ahoy convention center. StocExpo is an annual event
for the tank storage and future fuels industry. According to SPRINT, the
Robotics Zone event will off er an “exclusive exhibition opportunity for
SPRINT robotics member companies.” Member companies will be able
to demonstrate their robotic solutions and learnings at a
discounted rate. Beyond the opportunity to demonstrate
robotic solutions, participating member companies will
earn the chance to have their work promoted in print and
e-mail publications.
As automation rises across industry sectors and contin-
ues to gain momentum, organizations like SPRINT work
to publish research, foster community, educate members,
and lead the charge for the future of the robotics industry. —
Avery Heeringa
EA
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Good news and bad news
about AI for electric utilities
The good news for electric utilities is that artifi -
cial intelligence is expanding at a rapid pace. The bad
news for electric utilities is that artifi cial intelligence is
expanding at a rapid pace.
On the one hand, AI is making utilities’ operations
smarter and more effi cient. On the other, AI is plac-
ing extraordinary demands on utilities’ generation and
transmission capacity. Fortunately, there’s hope that the
good may be outweighing the bad.
A recently released report shows that North American
utilities have adopted data analytics, artifi cial intel-
ligence, and grid-edge intelligence more rapidly than
expected. The report, titled “Grid Edge Intelligence: Five
Ways Energy Utilities Can Deploy AI Now,” was released
in October by Itron, Inc., of Liberty Lake, Wash., a com-
pany that develops methods for utilities and cities to
manage energy and water. This year’s edition of the
annual report drew on a survey of 500 electric utility
executives in the U.S. and Canada.
“AI is introducing new complexities, but it’s also creat-
ing powerful opportunities,” said Marina Donovan, vice
president of global marketing, ESG, and public aff airs at
Itron. “Surging demand from manufacturing, electrifi ca-
tion, and data centers is straining the grid, yet the same
technologies are giving utilities the intelligence to mod-
ernize infrastructure, anticipate risks, and strengthen
community safety.”
Executives who were surveyed named several priorities in their use of AI.
Top among them was grid optimization, with 57% of respondents viewing AI
as essential for load balancing, energy loss reduction, and distributed energy
resource integration. Safety followed, as 53% valued AI’s capacity to identify
hazards beyond what physical inspectors detect. Demand forecasting ranked
third, with 51% listing it among the top three areas for AI and grid-edge ana-
lytics impact. In addition, 57% of executives identifi ed customer support as
the primary diffi culty in engagement.
These are the fi ve areas of operations in which the report says utilities can
deploy AI right now:
Utilities
— Image by Adobe Firefl y generative AI
14 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026
> Customer experience. Utilities can
apply artifi cial intelligence to customer
experience by delivering personalized
information and faster service. Consumers
now expect detailed usage breakdowns,
advance notice of outages, and the ability
to manage accounts without speaking to a
representative. AI systems can examine
individual electricity use patterns to send
targeted recommendations. Automated
chat can resolve routine billing questions
instantly, while predictive alerts warn
households of impending interruptions
caused by storms or equipment faults.
> Safety. Artifi cial intelligence analyzes
images, sensor readings, and histori-
cal records to spot dangers that human
inspectors might overlook. Algorithms
process drone photographs of transmis-
sion towers to detect corrosion or loose
hardware. Thermal cameras mounted on
substations feed data to models that fl ag
overheating components before they fail.
When combined with weather forecasts,
the systems predict ice buildup on lines or
tree falls in rights-of-way. Crews receive
precise locations and urgency levels,
which enables them to respond quickly.
> Predictive maintenance. Transformers,
circuit breakers, and underground cables
installed decades ago now operate beyond
original design expectations. Continuous
monitoring can extend the life of these
aging grid assets. AI can examine vibra-
tion, oil quality, load history, and ambient
conditions to forecast when equipment
will likely fail. “Edge” computers placed
directly on poles or in substations can
process information locally and transmit
alerts only when pre-defi ned thresholds
are crossed.
> Energy demand forecasting. Predicting
demand has grown more accurate with
artifi cial intelligence. Models are incor-
porating temperature, humidity, daylight
hours, industrial schedules, and elec-
tric vehicle charging patterns to project
hourly, daily, and seasonal needs. These
predictions allow operators to commit the
right amount of generation, store excess
renewable output in batteries, and avoid
expensive peaking plants. During extreme
weather, utilities can shift non-critical
loads or call on demand-response pro-
grams.
> Grid optimization. Fifty-seven percent
of surveyed electric utility executives
regard AI as essential for balancing loads,
minimizing line losses, and incorporat-
ing distributed energy resources such as
rooftop solar, home batteries, and neigh-
borhood microgrids. Real-time algorithms
adjust voltage regulators, capacitor banks,
and inverter settings thousands of times
per day. The systems prevent overloads
when air conditioners run simultaneously
on hot afternoons or when data centers
draw sudden power surges. Optimized
fl ows lower losses that once wasted
several percentage points of generated
electricity. The same framework accom-
modates bidirectional power from electric
vehicles that charge at night and return
energy over the grid during evening peaks.
“AI is introducing new complexities, but
it’s also creating powerful opportunities,”
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said Itron’s Marina Donovan. “The pace of
AI adoption across utilities is unlike any-
thing we’ve seen before. This isn’t a trend
but a resilience strategy,” she continued.
“From extending asset life through pre-
dictive maintenance to detecting hazards
faster and improving customer service,
utilities are applying AI where it delivers
measurable impact today and prepares
the grid for tomorrow.”
You can download a copy of the complete
report at www.itron.com/resourcefulness. —
Kevin Jones
EA
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026 15
Leading the charge in AI and automation
Several suppliers to the electric industry were active in the
fi elds of artifi cial intelligence, automation, and robotics in the
second half of 2025, but none, it appears, were more active than
Siemens AG, ABB Group, Rockwell Automation, and WEG Elec-
tric Corp.
On Dec. 1, Siemens publicized a video describing Audi AG’s
use of a Siemens PLC that’s said to be the world’s fi rst fail-safe
virtual programmable logic controller for software-based, cloud-
integrated shop-fl oor control without hardware. Only a day
earlier, Siemens had cited its Infrastructure Transition Monitor
2025 report, which says that more than 70% of energy leaders
view artifi cial intelligence and advanced grid software as essen-
tial for resilient infrastructure.
Other Siemens activities over the past several months have
included: providing predictive rail maintenance with artifi cial
intelligence, a partnership with Samsung C&T Corp. that com-
bines automation and electrifi cation, and the Unitree Robotics
G1 humanoid robot, which is equipped with Nvidia artifi cial
intelligence. And on Nov. 13, Siemens announced a €1 billion
investment in industrial artifi cial intelligence over three years
that will involve integration into its Xcelerator platform.
AI, automation, and robotics are areas in which ABB has been
active as well. “We don’t see any slowdown in AI investment,”
ABB CEO Morten Wierod said Nov. 19 during an appearance on
CNBC. “We see a massive trend towards electrifi cation and auto-
mation overall.”
Over the past six months, ABB has expanded partnerships
with Applied Digital Corp. and VoltaGrid for power systems in
artifi cial-intelligence-ready data centers. ABB also teamed up
with Nvidia for high-effi ciency power systems. And the com-
pany introduced Autonomous Versatile Robotics powered by
generative artifi cial intelligence and partnered with LandingAI
for robotic vision.
Robotics is a fi eld in which properties appear to be very much
in play. In October, ABB sold its robotics division to SoftBank
for $5.37 billion. Other ABB activities in the second half of 2025
included the acquisition of Sevensense robotics for warehouse
scanning.
Rockwell Automation, meanwhile, has been concentrating on
control and information systems. At its November Automation
Fair, the company introduced the PointMax I/O system for fl ex-
ible, data-powered automation along with FactoryTalk Design
Workbench software for project development. Rockwell also
introduced its Micro820 L20E controllers for smart machines.
At Pack Expo in Las Vegas last fall, Rockwell demonstrated pro-
duction-logistics automation.
Motors and drives manufacturer WEG Electric Corp., for its
part, has been spreading the news about its practical automa-
tion components. In November, the company announced the
availability in the U.S. of its PLC500 programmable logic con-
troller and promoted its CWBS safety contactors, an interactive
automation catalog, and Motion Fleet Management.
Other manufacturers have been active on the AI and auto-
mation front as well. Schneider Electric noted on Oct. 17 that
artifi cial intelligence is revolutionizing factory fl oors with next-
generation automation and workforce upskilling. And Wolong
Electric Group has been promoting motors and drives for artifi -
cial-intelligence data centers. — Kevin Jones
EA
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16 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026
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We’ve put it all in one place
From non-profits to industrial label
manufacturer
How Sarah Hilton built a career across industries, one conversation at a time
By Colin Gregory-Moores, EA Contributing Writer
After more than 20 years of working in non-profit organizations and the
financial service sector in marketing, communication, and product man-
agement roles, Sarah Hilton is currently product manager at Empower
Label of Plymouth, Minn., a producer of safety labels, and at its parent
company, the label materials manufacturer Wausau Coated Products,
Inc., of Wausau, Wis. She enthusiastically says, “I am very excited to help
Empower Label grow and succeed.”
Conversations beyond Maine
Born in 1982, Sarah was raised with her younger sister in the small town
of Winthrop in central Maine, amidst lakes, forests, and mountains.
Despite the idyllic landscape with its summer camps for the scion of
affluent parents, she felt that opportunity was restricted in lots of ways.
Across her childhood, there was much unemployment, factories were
closing, family farms that had long sustained themselves were struggling,
and classmates had one or both parents unemployed. She graduated with
65 people who, as she says, were essentially the people she had grown up
with. “We all looked at each other when we were five and decided who
each other were, and it was very hard to break out of that box.” As a teen-
ager she was anxious to leave as soon as she could.
Her decision to look beyond Maine was partly shaped by her father, a
state biologist and coyote expert, who did a job that he loved and found
meaningful. During Sarah’s early teens, he also often traveled for the Uni-
versity of Maine to work on the reintroduction of oryx in Jordan and ibex
in Pakistan. This proved to be quite motivating for Sarah, as were the fre-
quent visits to her aunt and uncle, her father’s brother, living in Montreal.
Both were academics and global travelers. “By the time I was 18, I was
comfortable traveling, landing in a new city, meeting people, and know-
ing that it didn’t have to be scary,” she laughs.
In 2000, she was admitted to Macalester College, a top-ranked liberal
arts school in St. Paul, Minn. Its aim is to have students from all over,
and Sarah jokes, “It was an advantage to be from Maine, because there
weren’t that many applicants.” Studying sociology and English, com-
pleting an urban studies semester in Chicago with its many public and
non-profit projects, and working in a non-profit organization through
her university’s work-study program all started to flow together as she
pursued job options upon graduation. Through AmeriCorps she got a full-
time position at College Possible in September 2004.
Non-profit organizations and marketing
Since the non-profit community in the Twin Cities is, as she says, not that
big, once she was working in one, she would get into conversations with
people from another. “There were job application processes, but when
I think about it now, it just feels like I flowed from one organization to
the next.” Her career in marketing and communications kicked off when
College Possible asked her in 2006 whether she would
consider being the organization’s new communica-
tions person.
Marketing, as Sarah observes, was changing a lot
in the wake of digitalization. The first customer rela-
tionship management systems were in use, and social
media was emerging. From a marketing standpoint,
people were trying to figure out what to do with big
data, how to organize their shared folders, which
newsletter platforms to use, etc.
Fixing problems
and rebuilding systems
Around 2009, Sarah accidentally got into financial
services. It was the time of the Great Recession (2007-
2009). Non-profits wanted all their full-time people to
be in essential services roles, and marketing was seen
as an extra. After a short period of unemployment,
Allied Solutions LLC, a financial services company,
answered her application and invited her for an
Feature | EA Reader Profile
Dave Rosen, president of Empower Label, and Sarah Hilton,
product manager, at the 2025 convention of the Electrical
Apparatus Service Association last summer in Nashville.
– Sarah Hilton photo
Please turn to page 20
18 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026
Electric Motor Forum!
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CWIEME Berlin at the brand new
interview. The conversation went well, and they were
persuaded she could learn a new industry.
She reorganized the company’s more than 100
products, which were individually listed in an alpha-
betized, spiral-bound notebook, into three proposal
categories (business growth, service/customer protec-
tion, business evolvement). “I literally deleted all the
questions and answers in the proposal automation
system and reorganized them in a way that made bet-
ter sense. Like all systems, it’s only as good as you set
it up to be.” A post about that in her LinkedIn profile
caught the attention of an HR person, who recruited
her to do the same thing at Galliard Capital Manage-
ment, a financial services firm based in Minneapolis.
From there she was asked to work at Invesco invest-
ment management as a product manager.
It was at this point that she realized that she was
more than just a good conversationalist and mar-
keting and communications consultant. She “had
become a fix-problems-and-rebuild-systems person,”
now managing products.
To compensate for the missing contact and con-
versations with people while working remotely at
Invesco in the post-Covid period, she started her own
consulting company for small businesses. She named
it Howard and Rose after her great-grandparents on
her father’s side: an architect in Providence, R.I., in
the late 1800s, and his civically engaged wife. “I guess
the premise of my consulting service was that, by that
point, I had been on so many teams, doing so many
different things, that I have a pretty good sense of
when and where it’s useful to put your energy” (see
sidebar, below). While working a full-time job to the fullest satisfaction
of her employer, she still was able to double her business year over year.
Product manager at Empower Label
She promoted Howard and Rose in Minneapolis by building up a strong
local network through word of mouth. At one point, she was invited to
attend monthly lunches for women with their own marketing business.
Following a recommendation by another attendee, Empower Label –
which had been acquired and re-branded by Wausau Coated Products
– hired her as a consultant to support the re-branding implementation.
However, she quickly realized that Empower Label was now engaged in
a change management project rather than a re-branding one. This pre-
sented an opportunity for her to help build bridges to Wausau Coated
Products employees as well as shift the perception of Empower Label –
from an acquired company doing a very specific task to a division of a
larger company – with all the opportunities that holds for everyone. In
April 2025, she was hired full-time as product manager.
Based in Plymouth, Minn., and with over 1,300 client sites globally,
Empower Label is a division of Wausau Coated Products, Inc., which
manufactures pressure-sensitive label materials and custom-coated
solutions for diverse commercial applications. Empower Label produces
ARMA laser, inkjet, and thermally printed industry-standard safety labels.
Since joining Empower Label in April 2025, Sarah has represented
the company at the 2025 convention of the Electrical Apparatus Service
Association in Nashville as part of Empower Label’s expansion into the
electrical market. “EASA was great because we discovered that a lot of
people in the motor repair space need to label things in extreme con-
ditions, which is what we specialize in,” she says with unmistakable
enthusiasm. During the company’s UL registration process, she stepped
into a coordinating role, ensuring that every task was done in the right
order. She also proudly completed a three-day Paper Knowledge sus-
tainable-forestry event in fall 2025, hosted by a paper mill in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan that supplies Wausau Coated Products with some
of the paper for its labels.
What began as her search for opportunities beyond the lakes and for-
ests of Maine has developed into a career across industries and states. As
product manager, she channels the forces that once propelled her to leave
her hometown – a love of reading, curiosity, a passion for knowledge,
meaningful conversations, as well as a talent for making connections –
into helping Empower Label grow and succeed.
EA
When and where it’s useful to put your energy
Drawing on her many years in marketing, communication, and prod-
uct management roles, Sarah shares two key lessons:
> Technology. If you never had a good Rolodex, you’re not going to
have a good online list of people. Before looking at technology, first
determine your objectives and establish your work processes. Too
often, people invest a lot of time, resources, and energy chasing the
perfect “tech” solution – when sometimes pen and paper or a spread-
sheet will do the job. Get your thinking and organizing straight before
investing in new tools, which in the end might fail to address the core
issues.
> Stakeholders. Involve your key people from the start. Whether it’s
your team, customers, or partners, bring the right stakeholders into
the conversation early. Their input helps you get different perspec-
tives and identify challenges before they become problems. While
you don’t need 100% consensus on everything, consultations will help
your project stay on track and ensure decisions are both practical and
sustainable. — CGM
Sustainable forestry tour in fall 2025 in the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan, from left to right: Donna Green and Carla Ber-
tram of Wausau Coated Products, Inc., and Sarah Hilton.
– Sarah Hilton photo
EA READER PROFILE continued from page 18
20 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS | JANUARY 2026