Remember when.... comments welcome.... your first servicing days with copiers

[tonerhead]

I invite you to post comments of how the industry has changed over time.


I remember one of my first field audits by the service manager over 30 years ago. I had a few negatives. One was drum was at 95% used and I didn't replace it. Another was I turned the pm counter off (of course I did, the drum was at 95% and I didn't want a call-back/parts waiting because I had no drum with at the time of service call)

At that time we were instructed to replace parts per manufacturer's recommendations and received negatives if we took out too soon or too late. We had to look at remaining life, if it was less than 10% we were expected to replace as reliability was the key. Callbacks were considered to be much worse than parts expense. Maintenance meters were supposed to be left on so customer knew we were taking care of their machine. Callbacks were 2 weeks or 10k. If the machine was close to maintenance, we would look at will it go 2 weeks. If it would go a month, we would tell the customer that machine is getting close to maintenance and would indicate that in about a month, then call us to schedule at their convenience, no worries, just like a routine oil change for a car.

Can you imagine that scenario now?

[PrintWhisperer]

Remember the paper service log packets?

....and finding a pay-phone to call dispatch?

[JR2ALTA]

The metrics my company uses actually considers "incomplete/return for parts" worse than callbacks! I mean, should we drive an 18 wheeler with every part in it? Should we duct tape it and leave? LOL

[kingarthur]

The first copiers I worked on properly, were the Sharp SF range, where you had to replace the master sheet about every 8k, you had to be careful not to get toner between it and the actual drum, to set up the toner/developer, you had a measuring bottle and a magnet, the magnet was if you put too much in, you had to remove it. The fuser rebuild was a nightmare, you had a felt pad, and had to fill it with "fuser oil/fluid"
Prior to that, I used to work on the old 3M Scotch copier orange and black they were, if I remember, primarily replacing light bulbs

[mloudy]

The first copiers I worked on properly, were the Sharp SF range, where you had to replace the master sheet about every 8k, you had to be careful not to get toner between it and the actual drum, to set up the toner/developer, you had a measuring bottle and a magnet, the magnet was if you put too much in, you had to remove it. The fuser rebuild was a nightmare, you had a felt pad, and had to fill it with "fuser oil/fluid"
Prior to that, I used to work on the old 3M Scotch copier orange and black they were, if I remember, primarily replacing light bulbs

SF-750. I can't remember if the SF-760 used the add/remove DV method or the potentiometer adjustment with the flickering toner light.

Then the SF-755, SF-756 and SF-7100. The Katun master would easily go 16K while the OEM master struggled to get to 8K. I think our record was 32K on a Katun master.

[srvctec]

There used to be LOTS of developing unit rebuilding. We always had an entire shelving unit dedicated to those (cleaned out and rebuilt) ready to go whenever a PM call came in so we wouldn't have to do the rebuild in office. Same goes for fusers although we didn't always have spares on hand for those.

Finding a pay phone to call in to dispatch was sometimes a challenge in the middle of nowhere here in Kansas. Sometimes, I'd ask the customer to use their phone to call our 800 number because there were no pay phones in some of the towns I serviced.

We had more techs back then to keep about the same amount of machines running so the machines have become more reliable over the years.

Also, I DON'T miss the fact customers had bottles of toner to pour into their toner hopper. Messes were aplenty.

[blackcat4866]

Remember the paper service log packets?

....and finding a pay-phone to call dispatch?

I used to have a pocket auto dialer that you could hold up to the payphone to enter you long distance carrier number & destination.
=^..^=

[slimslob]

Remember the paper service log packets?

That gave the complete service history to any competitor sales person who just happened to walk up to the machine.

[emujo2]

Not parts/supplies related, but remember the dress shirts/Ties..My 1st day training, I'm walking into an office white shirt, black tie, my mentor dressed the same..I say " man I feel like one of those, what's the name?? You know religious sect??? He says Jehova Witness?? I say YES!! that's it..Turns out 10 of the 11 guys in the office including the manager are all Jehovas...30 years later, the ones that are still alive I am still friends with. E

[mloudy]

Not parts/supplies related, but remember the dress shirts/Ties..My 1st day training, I'm walking into an office white shirt, black tie, my mentor dressed the same..I say " man I feel like one of those, what's the name?? You know religious sect??? He says Jehova Witness?? I say YES!! that's it..Turns out 10 of the 11 guys in the office including the manager are all Jehovas...30 years later, the ones that are still alive I am still friends with. E

The Mormon twins around here dress like that for their door to door.

Our service dept. was 4 techs plus me. Two of them brothers and three of them were JW's. There were random techs that came and went but there was the 5 of us that have been here for 30+ years.