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  1. #1
    ALIEN OVERLORD 2,500+ Posts fixthecopier's Avatar
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    Parts... to change or not to change.

    I would like to get feedback from fellow techs about parts usage. I am sure that we all have stuff that will go way past the life as set by the manufacturing plant, and we reset the counters. What is your opinion on PM. Do you change drums and developer when the book says or when problems arise? What is the company policy. Is parts usage a performance measure? Do you see a difference between changing parts by the book as far as better run times between service calls? How much is too much?

    I did about 1100 completed calls last year on mainly 6 1/2 year old machines and used $36,000 in parts, and was reprimanded for using too much. If you do not change the part and have to go back, you get a repeat call on your record! Thanks in advance for any feedback.
    The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

  2. #2
    Technicien de copieur 100+ Posts Zoren's Avatar
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    it depends...

    if you are referring it with consumables... for me dual component is a ton of headache but mono component is better, less maintenance with regards to consumables...


    i'd been assiged as a stand by tech in an oil field. i managed to remedy my spare parts as much as i can... unless it is necessary needed for a new s'parts. for the company i work with its not good coz they said i have less income in that account... but for the user on the otherhand, i was given an appreciation for well a maintained copiers...
    Last edited by Zoren; 03-30-2009 at 12:30 PM.
    Just came out from hybernation.....

  3. #3
    Service Manager 250+ Posts unisys12's Avatar
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    We change parts by the PM and no one has ever said anything to us about spending to much on parts. Throwing to many parts at a machine to fix it is another issue all together.

    But, if it makes you feel any better... None of the techs in our office can even carry an inventory! Sure, they have said year after year, that they were going to put something together. It never happens! Then, they will have me and another tech put a list together of things that we think we need to carry. Since we have done this so many times, we just hand over the same list or update it for new products. Never happens!

    But I think what kills our techs more than anything else... You go to a call, troubleshoot the machine, come back to the shop at the end of the day with all parts needed listed on your ticket. Then, they come back and tell you this is not whats wrong. Now, I'll be the first to admit that even though they are not out there everyday, they are right 60% of the time. But still... it really pisses a tech off to spend two hours troubleshooting a problem, feeling confident that what they have listed has great hope in fixing the problem, only to get back to the shop and be thrown right back to square one.

    This has lead a few of our guys to show up at the office with a ticket and copy quality sample, give it to one of the owners and ask them, "What do you think is wrong with this?". Because they would rather tell the customer they will be back with the parts to fix their machine and skip the butt chewing at the door about parts.

    Zoren, all our machine are dual component and supplies are not factored in. I would have to guess that we ship 90% or more of our toner to customers. But keeping toner in stock... not that another rant all together ~~

    The first law states that energy is conserved: The change in the internal energy is equal to the amount added by heating minus the amount lost by doing work on the environment.

  4. #4
    ALIEN OVERLORD 2,500+ Posts fixthecopier's Avatar
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    At my shop everything counts. Like missing inventory. I came up short $11,000 last year. I did not lose it . I can show most of it as mistakes made by the people who handle the parts and sing them out to us. I was short $3000 on toner! I do not have a Di650 in my living room!
    Some things must be changed to reset messages. I get burned by going behind another tech and finding out he should have rebuilt the worn out fuser, now I either have to do the job correctly and professionally, use the parts and take the hit on my numbers, or be a hack and blow the call off and hope the other guy gets the call back. Knowing myself like I do, I will not get a raise next year for my excessive parts usage. If that dollar number was the only performance measure you were rated on, what would you do???
    The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

  5. #5
    Technicien de copieur 100+ Posts Zoren's Avatar
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    if you are working as a stand by tech you cant just throw away s'parts that easy. "general services" in that oil field will see to it that the s'parts you need to replaced is 100% worn out...

    but in the field i never did the same thing as a stand by tech. if the s'part is due then it has to be replaced no question about it... this is where we get our incentive. the more s'part that cashes in the more commision we get...
    Just came out from hybernation.....

  6. #6
    Field Supervisor 500+ Posts Jimbo1's Avatar
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    On the whole I always feel better off if I replace the slick rollers and such rather than feel i have to try and pull my magical tech duck tape (yes I said DUCK tape) out and slickety slash it till next week.

    Eventually that sort of thing will catch up with you in lost customers. The companies are busy right now looking for where not to spend the money and what better place not to spend than YOUR bonus?

    "Some days you get the bear, some days the bear gets you."

    Cdr. William Riker

  7. #7
    Service Tech / IT Rep 100+ Posts JVergin's Avatar
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    I carry carstock parts for:

    Panasonic: 190, 8020 series, 2330/3030, xx30 series, 80xx series, C322, 354, 405 series.

    Savin: 2522/27 series, 9022/27 series.

    Duplo folders.

    Riso RZ and EZ duplicators.

    All in the truck of my taurus. Sure I have no trunk space left, but unless something really out of the ordinary breaks on these machines, I have the parts to fix whatever problem. I simply troubleshoot the problem, replace parts and/or make SM adjustments, then I'm off to my next call.

    Our company replaces parts at PM. There are a few occations where this isn't the case. For example, if an STR roller goes out too early on a color panasonic, we just reset the counter and wait for the PM cycle to replace. However, on a black and white model, if something like the drum goes out 5k or 10k copies before the PM mark, we will go ahead and do the PM anyways as to eliminate that future call and any other problems that could occur as the parts get closer to the PM. One great thing about the company - the techs make all the decisions on what calls to go to, when to go to them, and what needs to be done to fix the problem(s).

  8. #8
    Senior Tech 250+ Posts
    Parts... to change or not to change.

    DadO's Avatar
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    I run the parts till i can. I would like to change them but what would costumer think: Our copiers i good and u change parts? Only thing i can say him that copier will explode if I dont change the drum. Rent is something else.I try there to run copier whit less parts replaced.

    "Do you see a difference between changing parts by the book as far as better run times between service calls"
    I cant really answer you on this question since i never changed a part that wasnt bad or damaged but i believe it would give u a longer run time and i dont need to mention how much easier would be since machine would have more stability especaly for 2 component machines

  9. #9
    Passing Duplication Xpert 1,000+ Posts cobiray's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fixthecopier View Post
    At my shop everything counts. Like missing inventory. I came up short $11,000 last year. I did not lose it . I can show most of it as mistakes made by the people who handle the parts and sing them out to us. I was short $3000 on toner! I do not have a Di650 in my living room!
    Do you reconcile your car inventory on a regular basis? We had this trouble for years, only counting car stocks at the end of the year. We then went to a quarterly count and finally now to a monthly count. It really sucks to count them every month, but it keeps the inventory much, much cleaner. After we count, we get a variance report and then reconcile that against the calls we did and to try and locate where the parts are or where they were used. Everyone bitches and moans about the counting, but it keeps the big variances down.

    As for the car stocks, we've been trying to get techs to carry a stock to fix most problems on the first call. PM kits, feed rollers and other common fail parts are usually kept in the car for this reason. First call effectiveness eliminates a second call therefore eliminating more labor, travel time, travel expenses and customer down time. In my book, it's a no brainer.

    $36,000 in a 12 month period sounds very, very reasonable. Seems maybe the salesmen are giving away the service or not charging enough to keep the machines running and still have a profit. Sounds to me like you are very much getting the shaft, as they say.

    What kinds of machines are you working on? KonicaMinolta?

  10. #10
    Passing Duplication Xpert 1,000+ Posts cobiray's Avatar
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    As far as PM's on time or not, it really depends on the machine and the account it's in. Some of the Ricoh boxes are just pigs and you can't stretch the PM much past (or even up to) the stated count. Others you can run well past with out much consequence. My personal preference is to perform the maintenance as it is stated by the manufacturer. The equipment will run cleaner and your time between calls will go up. With quality end users, I've got some machines going PM to PM. IMHO, the digital machines do not give you the option of tweeking settings to milk a PM nearly to the extent of an analog machine, so that is another reason I like on time PM's.

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