Do you remember philosophy classes in college? It was where you might have read articles by Descartes, Aristotle, Augustine and Nietzsche. It all seemed so impractical to me back then, but as the years roll by, I find my philosophy of life does indeed impact the practical issues of day-to-day existence.

How does this connect to servicing floor care equipment? Very simply. Your company needs to develop a philosophy of business; I’m not talking about the existence of God or a way we can discover absolute truth. I’m talking about knowing why you’re in the service business and determining what you will or will not do in business.

My brother ran into this very issue a number of years back and the lessons he learned have stuck in my mind ever since. Mark had a tremendous ability to wreck a car, yet still come out “smelling like a rose” financially.

After the insurance company paid him for the claim, he would find a shop where he could get fenders banged out and paint applied for much less than the estimates. But, the challenge was finding a shop.

He soon found out that body shops have different philosophies of business. Some will only remove panels and replace them with new parts — no putty work, patching or sanding. Other shops find ways to make due with a minimum of new parts and thrive on the challenge of doing the job with filler, paint and some frame adjustments.

Here’s the point: your business needs to have a very clear idea about how to approach the service function in your particular market. For example, will you work on old machines where replacement parts are unavailable and replace them with pieces manufactured on your own site? Or will you only remove and replace parts with original equipment manufactured (OEM) parts? WIll you rewire a drive motor on site, or just replace it when the brushes are worn out? Will you weld new steel supports on a scrubber frame that has been eaten away with battery acid or simply scrap the unit entirely and sell the customer a new one?

That raises the controversial issue of using third-party vendor parts as opposed to OEM parts from the manufacturer. Where do you fall on this issue?

Are you wondering what difference it makes which way you choose to run your shop? Well, if you are going to be an OEM replacement only shop, then your tooling requirements will be far different from the shop that wants to re-wire motors, weld frames and fashion replacement parts for out-of-date equipment.

The latter shop will require an arc welder, an end mill, possibly a lathe, spools of various-sized magnet wire, a spray booth and an exhaust system in the shop. The former shop will require a larger inventory of OEM parts, as well as the space and personnel to manage it effectively.
Both shops have the possiblity of becoming very successful or both might consistently lose money. It all depends on whether the following three issues (listed by order of importance) have been addressed:

  • What are the needs of your particular market?
  • What is the vision of management?
  • What are the skills of your technical staff?

My mentor in this business, Phil Consolino, makes a very important point about starting a service business in his book, Unlocking the Mystery of Equipment Service, available from ISSA.

Phil writes: “I can tell you that if you are in Iron Mountain, Michigan, it’s going to be different than in Los Angeles, California. The market is going to be different, so you need to know your market and understand how to design a service business that’s going to make sense for you and your customer.”

Phil recommends directly talking to lots of end users and asking the appropriate service people in each business about their needs and exceptations. This research will allow your management team to decide what the service business at your facility is going to operate like. Only then can you set a realistic budget for outfitting a shop with the right tooling to fit your needs.

Finally, you need to hire a technical team that can turn your goals into a reality. Finding technicians can be difficult, without the added frustration of not knowing what you really want the person to accomplish. Consider this: if swapping out parts is what the job entails, then hire a person with those skills and that temperament. But, if welding and machining skills are required, then you had better look for a different kind of individual.

If the perfect person doesn’t walk in the door, make the commitment to train the person you do hire to do the work that your philosophy requires.

Unfortunately, this process is often done in the reverse order. For instance, you hire a guy and tell him to “fix equipment” with no further direction than that. When he later requests more tooling he hits a stone wall because his interpretation of “fix equipment” is not the same as management’s was when he was hired.

As the internal battle between the technician and management continues, there is a slow learning process that everyone goes through until, at last, a philosophy of service develops.

This is a painful process for all involved and I don’t recommend it. If you have begun this way I would strongly advise you to stop, look and listen to your customers. Then readjust your philosophy as needed and move on from there. If you already have a strong technical staff, consider asking them about their understanding of customer expectations. Remember, they interact daily with customers on the phone or face-to-face. Your current technicians can offer you quite a bit of insight into the market.

Dr. Michael Kucks is an electrical/mechanical training consultant with TRIAD Integrated Technical Services based in Pennsylvania. He can be reached at (717) 371-4921.




POSTED ON: 4/1/2001