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News Release from: Mills Manufacturing Technology
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 September 2003
Division set up to handle m/c service
contracts
Division to handle service contracts covering Daewoo, Nakamura Tome, Kuraki and O-M machine tools has been established by UK agent, Mills Manufacturing Services.
A new division to handle service contracts covering Daewoo, Nakamura Tome, Kuraki and O-M machine tools has been established by UK agent, Mills Manufacturing Services, which until now has focussed its service activities on installation and warranty Said managing director, Mike Jenkins, "We have never actively promoted service contracts because we did not want to dilute the back-up we provide during and immediately after the sale of a new machine
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 23 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Independent surveys confirm that our service has always been in the top quartile of that provided by all machine tool vendors to manufacturing industry as a whole, and that's very important to us.
"Now we have decided to employ six extra service personnel by the end of the year, of which three are already in place in Tyneside, the West Midlands and the South.
They will join 13 pre-existing installation and warranty engineers to bring a higher overall level of on-going back-up to our large customer base, which operates around 3,000 CNC machine tools supplied by Mills since the 1970s." The distinction made is that users will no longer have to rely on independent service companies or their own maintenance staff, which are likely to be of variable competence, but instead will know that factory-trained engineers from Mills are on hand to diagnose the problem quickly and provide a consistently high level of service.
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Labour rates are equivalent to those charged by the more reputable independent firms but machine parts cost 15 per cent less, as Mills is sole UK distributor of its principals' spares.
Moreover it has direct internet access to the manufacturers' stocks as well as to its own and those of other European outlets, so parts are normally available more quickly.
Over GBP 350,000 of stocks are held by Mills in Leamington Spa and in addition, key parts are carried by engineers in their new, sign-written vans, so machines are often up and running faster and without a second visit being required.
Overseeing the new division is operations manager Nick Frampton, who draws an analogy between the Mills service contract and a car serviced by a main dealer.
He commented, "The user of a Mills machine can be assured that the work will be of high quality, only manufacturers' parts will be used and that a service history will be maintained that runs continuously from installation through the warranty period to the end of the machine's life.
"One has to remember that a machine tool works a lot harder than a car, often 24 hours a day for years on end, so service is even more important.
In addition, the future value of a machine tool is enhanced in the same way as a car with a full service history commands a higher second hand price." Two levels of service contract are offered by Mills, each with features that give the subscriber one or more routine maintenance visits and priority treatment for call-out, labour rate, free telephone help, machine relocation and the like.
Alternatively, a bespoke contract can be devised around shifts and shutdown periods.
Preferential rates are also available from third party suppliers of, for example, workholding equipment, indexers, bar magazines, swarf conveyors and control equipment.
The most important benefit to the user, however, is the preventative maintenance aspect of the service contract which reduces the incidence of breakdown and hence of lost production, the cost of which can dwarf the amount spent on service.
Infrastructure at Leamington Spa has been strengthened to support the new division, from the creation of the extra position of customer services co-ordinator to the integration of activities with Mills' long-standing use of Tesseract human resources software.
Concluded Mike Jenkins, "Our own research shows that 90 per cent of companies that buy second and subsequent machines from us do so because of the quality of service we give them.
It is therefore Mills' greatest sales aid, so strengthening the division to 20 people is good for us as well as our customers.".
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