As long as it works don't fix it

[Bix]

A nice sentence: As long as it works don't fix it
I wanted to create this thread in another section but I would like to consider this sentence for Konica Minolta engineers.
In my first months as a technician I have always been very strict on the manual. I respected periodic maintenance and periodically updated my printers. But this sometimes got me into some trouble: things that stop working that worked before my manutention.
Now I'm also on the "Don't fix it if it's not broken" team. But to what extent? For example I have the iSeries. Some of them caused me some problems while others never a single failure. In recent months, several firmware and bugfixes have been released. But do you make them?
The c3320i should now shake the development unit to avoid problems. But I have printers that in 1 year still no problem. So here two questions arise: I ignore the bulletins by running the printer and maybe it will never have problems or do I try to fix it, possibly causing a new problem?


This is just a small example. I want to hear your opinion!

[BillyCarpenter]

A nice sentence: As long as it works don't fix it
I wanted to create this thread in another section but I would like to consider this sentence for Konica Minolta engineers.
In my first months as a technician I have always been very strict on the manual. I respected periodic maintenance and periodically updated my printers. But this sometimes got me into some trouble: things that stop working that worked before my manutention.
Now I'm also on the "Don't fix it if it's not broken" team. But to what extent? For example I have the iSeries. Some of them caused me some problems while others never a single failure. In recent months, several firmware and bugfixes have been released. But do you make them?
The c3320i should now shake the development unit to avoid problems. But I have printers that in 1 year still no problem. So here two questions arise: I ignore the bulletins by running the printer and maybe it will never have problems or do I try to fix it, possibly causing a new problem?


This is just a small example. I want to hear your opinion!

If it's not broke, don't fix it? I guess it depends on what you apply it to? Can you apply it to everything across the board? Nope. As a copier tech, part of our job is to anticipate a problem before it happens and take care of it.

Example: If the paper feed tires @ tray 1 have another 8K left on them, should I replace? I mean, they're working fine. But what if the customer is printing 10K per month? What if they're printing 2k per month? If they're printing 10K, you'll be back in a few weeks. If they're printing 2k, they'll last several more months.

As far as your example of shaking the DV units...I'd do it because it's not gonna hurt anything and those tech bulletins are usually correct, IMHO.

[Bix]

Of course, I exclude from the speech important periodic maintenance. This actually depends on your experience. For example I know that series 4 can do 2 laps while series 8 hardly even 1 lap.
For example in the iSeries Konica Minolta recommends keeping the equipment up to date. I did a periodic maintenance on a C300i and I took the opportunity to update the firmware. I thought it would take 10 minutes, I put the van in a double row. After the update the printer went KO and I had to initialize and reinstall it (30 minutes/1 hour). Hahahaha
This is very discouraging!

[BillyCarpenter]

Of course, I exclude from the speech important periodic maintenance. This actually depends on your experience. For example I know that series 4 can do 2 laps while series 8 hardly even 1 lap.
For example in the iSeries Konica Minolta recommends keeping the equipment up to date. I did a periodic maintenance on a C300i and I took the opportunity to update the firmware. I thought it would take 10 minutes, I put the van in a double row. After the update the printer went KO and I had to initialize and reinstall it (30 minutes/1 hour). Hahahaha
This is very discouraging!

Here's my opinion. When I was first starting out as a copier tech, each service call was an adventure. Every problem was new and fixing it was a challenge. But after doing about 1000 service calls on the same model, that shit became boring. I knew what the problem was before I walked in the door and knew exactly what I had to do. I started hoping for some exotic problem that I had never seen before. Every model has it trouble areas and those are the areas that I pay special attention to.

As a rule of thumb, I would follow the tech updates like they're the bible. The manufactures can only do so much testing on a new model before they are released for sale to the general public. Once the new models are placed in different environments, new problems will arise and that's where the tech bulletins come in.

My 2-cents.


EDIT: And if you do decide to ignore the tech updates and a problem pops up, the first thing your service manager is gonna ask is did you install the update? That's never a good situation to be in.

[copyman]

After 40+ yrs in this business I've learned to "leave well enough alone". The days of "routine" maintenance is a thing of the past (except on big production models)
As crazy as it sounds I've had better results NOT doing preventive maintenance.

Also if you lived by the book you wouldn't make any money especially with contract customers, i.e. replacing drums, transfer belt, etc as soon as message comes on even though print quality is perfect.

I'm only speaking for my experience with Konica Minolta. I'm sure there are other OEM's that need the PM's done on schedule but not on the Kon/Min low-mid volume models. Turn off the consumable messeges and only replace when a quality issue.

[tsbservice]

I'm kinda against the masses on this matter.
Most of the times I feel big and ugly enough to take challenge and if sometimes needed to bite the bullet.
I always read and respect what manufacturers recommend prior making my decisions.
I really don't recommend this approach especially for unexperienced and for certain don't do this on regular basis - but that's my mentality.
Knocking on wood till now never broke anything applying new FW or solution - at least permanently, minor headaches/hindrances/delays aren't excluded, though.

[copiertec]

Bix, I am mostly factory trained on Sharp and Kyocera products and almost all of the time firmware updates are not a big deal, Kyocera had some issues on the Alphard 2 series, but overall, nothing major if firmware was updated. Konica on the other hand, (I just learned the hard way) with firmware, "if it not broke broke...do not fix it!" Had a 284 that for the most part was running alright, until I decided to update the firmware. It wiped out the address book and all the email settings, I worked with their IT dept for over 2 hours and the result.... we could not get scan to email up and working at this point in time.
Also, on the email subject, we could not find a way to test the email setup settings anywhere on the webpage, unless I am over looking something, I had to continually walk back to the mfp and send to the email address to see if it worked, same issue on the 8 series as well. I also found out you have to enable account tracking on the mfp, in order for it to be accessible and setup via the webpage! Konica to me seems to be very "quirky" compared to other brads such as Sharp or Kyocera. Just my 2 cents on Konicas.

[BillyCarpenter]

Bix, I am mostly factory trained on Sharp and Kyocera products and almost all of the time firmware updates are not a big deal, Kyocera had some issues on the Alphard 2 series, but overall, nothing major if firmware was updated. Konica on the other hand, (I just learned the hard way) with firmware, "if it not broke broke...do not fix it!" Had a 284 that for the most part was running alright, until I decided to update the firmware. It wiped out the address book and all the email settings, I worked with their IT dept for over 2 hours and the result.... we could not get scan to email up and working at this point in time.
Also, on the email subject, we could not find a way to test the email setup settings anywhere on the webpage, unless I am over looking something, I had to continually walk back to the mfp and send to the email address to see if it worked, same issue on the 8 series as well. I also found out you have to enable account tracking on the mfp, in order for it to be accessible and setup via the webpage! Konica to me seems to be very "quirky" compared to other brads such as Sharp or Kyocera. Just my 2 cents on Konicas.

Just reading this thread I see there are many approaches and I find myself agreeing with all of them. I think the moral of the story is that the approach is gonna be different depending on the make and even down to the models.

[copyman]

Bix, I am mostly factory trained on Sharp and Kyocera products and almost all of the time firmware updates are not a big deal, Kyocera had some issues on the Alphard 2 series, but overall, nothing major if firmware was updated. Konica on the other hand, (I just learned the hard way) with firmware, "if it not broke broke...do not fix it!" Had a 284 that for the most part was running alright, until I decided to update the firmware. It wiped out the address book and all the email settings, I worked with their IT dept for over 2 hours and the result.... we could not get scan to email up and working at this point in time.
Also, on the email subject, we could not find a way to test the email setup settings anywhere on the webpage, unless I am over looking something, I had to continually walk back to the mfp and send to the email address to see if it worked, same issue on the 8 series as well. I also found out you have to enable account tracking on the mfp, in order for it to be accessible and setup via the webpage! Konica to me seems to be very "quirky" compared to other brads such as Sharp or Kyocera. Just my 2 cents on Konicas.

Firmware is another issue. With Konica Minolta I definitely will NOT install firmware unless there is a problem. Too many times I've tried to do the right thing and install FW as soon as it comes out only to have it bite me in the ass! I do install the latest FW on off lease machines I buy from wholesalers that are at my shop before I resell. Many machines I buy off lease are from Kon/Min branch offices and still have the old original FW in it. So apparently the OEM techs don't even take the chance of updating FW automatically!

[tsbservice]

... Many machines I buy off lease are from Kon/Min branch offices and still have the old original FW in it. So apparently the OEM techs don't even take the chance of updating FW automatically!

OEM techs aren't interested equally if not more than regular/Indy techs doing few extra steps. I see this all the time when come to machines serviced from Mother-Stellar-Dealership!