Product News

What a Cellular Outage Reveals About Municipal Utility Communications

Connectivity as a Utility Dependency

• Monitor and control SCADA systems

• Operate remote pumping and lift stations

• Monitor substations and distribution assets

• Transmit alarms and operational data

The Challenge of Single-Path Communications

• Carrier outages

• Fiber cuts

• Power disruptions

• Weather-related events

Designing for Resilience

• Incorporate multiple wireless technologies

• Allow systems to fail over if one path becomes unavailable

• Reduce dependence on a single carrier or network type

Why This Matters for SCADA and Operations

• Higher system uptime

• Continuous alarm visibility

• Improved operational confidence

• Better alignment with critical infrastructure cybersecurity and reliability standards

Learning From Outages

Neal Systems Now Represents Foxboro Instrumentation & Remote Operations Across New York

We’re thrilled to announce a major expansion: Neal Systems is now the official representative for Foxboro Instrumentation and Remote Operations throughout the entire state of New York.

This includes solutions in:

• Instrumentation – Flow, Pressure, Level, and Temperature

• Remote Operations – GeoSCADA (formerly ClearSCADA), SCADAPack RTUs, and Trio Wireless

Why Foxboro Chose Neal Systems

Foxboro selected Neal Systems as their trusted partner for New York based on several key strengths:

• Proven Track Record – Over 15 years representing Foxboro in territories from Pennsylvania to Virginia.

• Established NY Presence – A 20+ year history supporting New York customers with brands like Metrix, MTL, L&J, Alta Solutions, Keller, Watlow, Eurotherm, and Chessell.

• Deep Technical Expertise – From instrumentation to automation, our engineering bench runs deep.

• Customer-Focused Support – A team built around fast response times, hands-on help, and personalized training.

• People & Logistics That Make a Difference – Our culture and commitment to excellence set us apart.

Meet Your Neal Systems Support Team

We’ve assembled a team of experts to make sure New York customers have everything they need—from technical guidance to fast service and support.

👥 Customer Service

Our customer care team is always ready to assist with orders, questions, or anything in between.

• Customer Care / Order Entry – Jacklyn Tully

• Operations Manager – Laura Kane

• Customer Experience Manager – Helen Batchelor

🌍 Outside Sales

Serving every corner of New York:

• Western NY – Justin Bendik (Territory Manager)
  Based locally and available to support the Buffalo region and beyond. (We’re also hiring for a rep in Buffalo—come chat with us if you’re interested!)

• Eastern NY – Ed Owens (Territory Manager)

• Sales Manager – Mark Pfender

🧠 Application Engineering

Whether it’s instrumentation or remote operations, our engineers love a challenge:

• Instrumentation – Walter Freeman

• Remote Operations – Dave Schroeder & Joe Klinkhoff

• General Support – Hugh Davison & Shane Filer

🛠️ Field Service

Our field service team provides on-site help, calibration, commissioning, and more:

• Cecilio Ramirez

• Joe McCracken

• Brian Weischedel

🔧 Technical Support

Ready to troubleshoot and assist with any setup or application questions:

• Hanlon Doyle

• Dexter Vilar

Want to put a face to the name? Visit our Team Page to get to know us better.

We’re proud to bring the trusted performance of Foxboro instrumentation—and the reliability of Neal Systems support—to even more customers across New York.

Need a quote, want to discuss your next project, or just have a few questions? Contact us here.

View Official Announcement Letter

Tariff Announcement

Dear Customers,

Additional tariffs have come into effect as of 00:01 on 3^rd April 2025 and will be seen as an additional line item per product on invoices.  Our expectation is that these will range from 0% to 25% based on the origin of manufacture (UK 10%; EU 20%; Mexico & Canada 0% OR 25% dependent on exemptions; US 0%).  We are offering three options to accommodate this:

1. Contact here for additional information, noting that in the short term we may not have much additional information.
2. Cancel your purchase order
3. Accept the additional tariffs

If we do not hear back from you within 5 days of the order acknowledgement we will assume that you are accepting the tariffs and we will proceed with shipment.  We recognize how frustrating this is for you and are working as diligently as possible to determine the impact on each and every order but please be aware that we do not have a full picture at this time.  Note that Neal Systems will only make tariff charges when they have been placed on the goods by the government and will not mark them up in any way.

Estimated Tariffs Per Product

Eurotherm products – 20%

Draeger products – 20%

Metrix products – 0%

MTL products – 10%, 20% or 26%

Foxboro Products – upto 25%

GE Orbit radios – 0%

Cattron product – 0%

M-System products – 20%

PR Electronic products – 20%

Servomex products – 20%

Keller products – 20%

Elpro products – 10%

Expo products – 10%

Alta products – 0%

Automation service products – 0%

Minco – Minco manufactures all products in the USA and maintains an almost exclusively USA based supply chain.  As such, Minco expects a minimal impact to product pricing due to tariffs

As of 4-3-25 this information is our best understanding of the situation.  Note that this is NOT a definitive statement but is meant for guidance only.  There are many unknowns that we are trying to resolve and will be updating this page regularly.  Actual tariffs charged may differ from what is shown here.