Raúl Serrano
The general manager of Helios highlights that the company advises and supplies solutions in the field of metrology and measurement (for maintenance), with quality, accuracy, and precision that strengthen energy efficiency, process safety, and international competitiveness.
1What is the purpose of Helios in Bolivia?
Our main purpose has always been to ensure our clients’ investment in measurement instruments and industrial metrology with complete and long-lasting solutions. We achieve this by providing continuous support over time with the appropriate elements: we have trained personnel and the necessary infrastructure and equipment, including an authorized Fluke service center and a calibration laboratory. Our focus on improving our clients’ day-to-day operations is our main differentiator.
2Can you tell us something about the history and activities of the company, please?
Founded in 1999, Helios is a cutting-edge company that provides complete solutions for metrology and measurement of electrical, physical, and chemical magnitudes. We represent and support various brands of recognized manufacturers, allowing us to provide instruments and advanced technology solutions for the academic, scientific, and industrial communities. Some of the manufacturers we represent include FLUKE, FLUKE CALIBRATION, FLUKE NETWORKS, FLUKE BIOMEDICAL, HONEYWELL GAS DETECTION, PULSAR, SOLINST, VEEX, LIFELOC, and VAISALA. In recent years, we have made efforts to enhance our after-sales service by implementing additional work variables in our calibration laboratory and service center.
Since 2005, we have made significant efforts to establish a comprehensive calibration laboratory that has become an authorized Service Center for FLUKE. This allowed us to achieve our goal of providing complete measurement solutions and ensuring our clients’ investment. Our clients can be confident that their instruments will function correctly for over 10 years, within the manufacturer’s design tolerances and with traceability to the International System.
3What can be highlighted about Helios’ participation in the national market?
We are a company that advises and supplies solutions in the field of metrology and measurement (for maintenance), which helps ensure continuous activity in the electrical, Oil & Gas industries, telecommunications, mining, general industrial processes, and maintenance of hospital equipment. We focus on ensuring quality, accuracy, and precision to strengthen energy efficiency, process safety, and international competitiveness.
We have promoted metrological activity in the country by assisting important clients such as YPFB in setting up a laboratory for electrical, pressure, and temperature measurements. We have also provided standards to IBMETRO and other laboratories in the electrical sector. Likewise, we have been engaged in various activities with our industrial clients to promote activity.
We have helped many of our clients understand the importance of instrument quality control as the foundation of industrial metrology and compliance with quality control systems, operational safety, and energy efficiency in production. It is still common to think that as long as an instrument turns on and displays measurements (numbers on the screen), it is functioning “properly.” However, every instrument, especially those with electronics, is not stable in the medium and long term, and measurements will inevitably experience natural drift (deviation over time), which can be accelerated by environmental and working conditions (high humidity, thermal stress, mechanical stress such as impacts and falls, electrical stress such as measuring a signal outside the range, etc.). Our focus on safety is a significant differentiator.
4What strategies are you adopting to remain competitive despite the current economic situation in the market?
We ensure and demonstrate the return on investment for our clients by continuously strengthening our metrology and local technical support services for the solutions and instruments distributed by our organization. To achieve this, we have a calibration laboratory and an authorized Fluke service center that provides services in a wide range of magnitudes.
Considering that our market is very price-sensitive, we make great efforts to show our clients that it is not only important to consider the acquisition cost at the time of purchasing measurement systems or instruments but also the cost of the medium and long-term lifecycle of a measurement solution. This includes factors such as local warranty, access to a manufacturer-authorized service center for repairs, metrological adjustments, local calibrations, training, capacity building, and technical support. The absence of these services increases the cost of the solution. These services are available for instruments purchased through official channels in Bolivia (our company and the authorized distributors network in the country).
As a reference, we have clients (YPFB Transporte S.A.) who purchased the first Fluke multifunction field calibrators from us in 2003, and to this day, they continue functioning perfectly (within tolerance and with traceability) after 20 years, thanks to proper and reasonably priced service (repairs, metrological adjustments, and SI-traceable calibrations).
“We have promoted metrological activity in the country by assisting important clients such as YPFB in setting up a laboratory for electrical, pressure, and temperature measurements…”
5What are your upcoming challenges in the near future?
One of our main challenges going forward is to transfer knowledge to the industry in general in the areas of energy efficiency and industrial metrology. This should enable our clients to maximize the utilization of the solutions they obtain from us and, therefore, maximize the efficiency of their business operations, leading to increased profits.
6Briefly describe the products and/or services offered by Helios.
We offer industrial measurement and metrology solutions in various areas, which can be summarized as follows: electrical testing instruments (multimeters, insulation resistance testers, earth resistance testers, various electrical testers, power quality analyzers, portable oscilloscopes, test solutions for transformers and substations, battery backup bank testers), process calibration (portable pressure and temperature calibration, current loop calibrators), preventive and predictive maintenance (thermal imaging cameras, IR windows, vibration testers, laser alignment tools, combustion gas analyzers, acoustic cameras for compressed air and gas leak detection, humidity and dissolved gas measurement in transformers), non-destructive testing instruments (ultrasonic thickness measurement, ultrasonic flaw detection in materials, hardness measurement, industrial radiography, videoscopes), industrial hygiene and safety instruments (sound level meters, acoustic dosimeters, breathalyzers, toxic and explosive gas detectors, flame detectors, radiation monitors and dosimeters), quality testing and control solutions in biomedicine (patient simulators, electrosurgical analyzers, ventilation equipment analyzers, incubator analyzers, infusion analyzers, quality control for radiography and imaging equipment), instruments for measuring other variables such as humidity and dew point in industrial atmospheres and compressed air systems, level and flow measurement, etc.
We offer comprehensive after-sales technical service for the different families of instruments and solutions we provide, including repairs and calibrations at our authorized Fluke service center located in the city of Santa Cruz. We have modern reference instruments, trained personnel, and automated procedures (thanks to Fluke’s Met/Team software), ensuring compliance with all quality standards.
If you are interested in receiving support from our company, whether regarding instrumentation or the after-sales services we offer, we will be happy to assist you. You can contact us via email at info@helios.com.bo or by phone at 3433818.
