Keep your critical machine tools running with a service contract

Imagine if you invested $300,000 in a new Ferrari and drove it daily – but ignored all of the service and maintenance intervals. You only changed the oil twice a year and never had it serviced. You wouldn’t dream of damaging a finely-tuned supercar by neglecting its recommended service and maintenance schedule.

Yet that’s what thousands of OEMs do with their critical machine tools.

At one time, OEMs that invested in new, manufacturing systems also purchased a service contract. It included regular on-site service checks and repairs. Field service representatives would keep these “super-machines” running at their best while minimizing unexpected downtime.

But during the last decade, several rounds of downturns and cost-cutting at OEMs have all but eliminated traditional machine tool service contracts. At the same time, OEMs have systematically eliminated their in-house maintenance staff. When those people left, they took their hard-earned knowledge with them.

As a result, many OEMs have no one left on staff who understands how to maintain and fix their high-production machine tools.

Today, many OEMs view service contracts as an unnecessary expense. They prefer to take their chances by running their machines non-stop, with little or no maintenance. When downtime happens – as it inevitably does – they will spare no expense to get them back up and running ASAP.

But there’s a problem with this approach: A lack of preventive maintenance means that these high-performance, machine tools tend to experience higher than normal levels of wear and tear.

As a result, when the machine finally fails, it requires more work to replace what’s worn out and damaged and to return the machine to factory specifications.

Here is one example: One of our customers heard a noise in the head unit of one of their machine tools. They were fortunate enough to have a spare head unit on-site. So one of our field service reps removed the existing one and replaced it with the spare unit. When he inspected the old head unit, he discovered that it was perilously close to a total failure. If it had done so, it would have cost this OEM over $90,000.

This OEM barely dodged a bullet. But many aren’t so lucky.

There’s got to be a better way

A program of monthly service visits to inspect and optimize the operation of your machine tools offers four significant benefits:

Reduced downtime: Many Kaufman machine tools are used in critical production applications where they produce over one million parts per year. Downtime is measured in thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per hour. Preventive maintenance can help to sharply reduce this costly problem, so you can reach your production commitments.

Longer machine life: Routine checkups and regular maintenance help to minimize wear and tear on key machine components and systems. It also enables us to find and fix little problems before they can become big ones.

Produce higher quality parts: Regular service checks also help us keep your machine’s performance on spec, so you can produce high-quality parts consistently.

Lower costs in the long run: Less unplanned downtime. Less wear and tear on your machine. More consistent part quality. It all adds up. Maintaining your machine tools according to the manufacturer’s specifications helps you make more money in the long run by reducing its total owning and operating costs over the life of the machine.

Kaufman service offerings

Remote support: As part of an annual service plan, Kaufman offers phone support to our customers. Newer machine tools can be connected to the internet, enabling us to do remote diagnostics and troubleshooting of your machines.

On-site support: For monthly service contracts, our knowledgeable service people can travel to your plant location to perform preventive maintenance and check key machine settings and tolerances.

For machine-down situations, we can get to you faster and have you up and running much faster than European and Asian machine tool manufacturers. We also know your machine better than any third-party maintenance firm.

On-site training: In addition to machine set-up and ongoing maintenance, our field service reps can also train your operators on basic machine operation and troubleshooting.

Learn more

Contact us today to learn more about the support services we offer for our Kaufman machine tools.