Ask pretty much any machinery supplier in the UK which is their largest department, and you’ll get the same reply: servicing, spare parts and aftersales care.

Weinig, for example employs 27 people at its headquarters in Abingdon, 17 of whom work in the spares and service department. “It’s the fastest growing part of the company – and still expanding,” said service manager Neal Reid.

It’s a similar story at SCM, whose service and spare parts division employs 34 engineers, technical support engineers and administrative staff – all under the watchful eye of service manager John Allenby.

“The servicing of SCM machinery is extremely important as most customers need reassurance that we are able to support the product ‘after the sale’,” said Mr Allenby.

“If a machine is known to be maintained to the manufacturer’s recommendations, then both its lifespan and reliability will be greatly extended – and the machine will be easier to support from our service office.”

Machinery suppliers and manufacturers have realised that simply providing a machine is no longer enough. “Customers increasingly expect their hands to be held in all sorts of ways,” said Francis Dalton, managing director of machinery supplier Daltons.

“Machine supply supports the service activity of the company and, conversely, service supports machine sales: it’s impossible to consider one without the other.”

With 30 engineers on the road, Wadkin UltraCare claims to be the largest national equipment maintenance and repair organisation in the woodworking machinery sector. The company offers a range of advice, products and services ranging from preventative maintenance programmes and machine rebuilds, to tailor-made packages for the supply of tooling and spare parts for customers both in the UK and overseas.

Longevity

“More people are realising the value of longevity in their machines,” said marketing executive Nuria de la Fuente. “With the hammering that most of these machines get, they see the value of investing in their kit.

“Most people do now see the benefits of regular maintenance, although initially we may be visiting because of a problem that’s occurred. Some of them take a bit of convincing – but after a breakdown they see sense.”

Wadkin UltraCare says it looks at its customers’ manufacturing schedules and then designs a maintenance programme to maximise productivity versus cost. These programmes can include benefits such as 24/7 breakdown cover, ‘permanent’ on-site maintenance, Condition Based Maintenance or the Wadkin Service Club (a service solution for currently 800 members who get preferential rates and parts discounts).

Four years ago, the company invested heavily in a database which enables it to locate engineers at any time and deploy them quickly, for example, if a customer without a service package does have a breakdown.

“We get OEM [original equipment manufacturer] parts or standard parts that our engineers are trained to install on a wide range of manufacturers’ machines,” said Ms de la Fuente, although the company does supply its own Wadkin machines and those from IIDA and Robinson, as well as rebuilt machines.

Maintenance contracts

Increasingly, machinery manufacturers and service providers see longer-term maintenance contracts as the way forward. The vast majority of Weinig customers, for example, take out preventative maintenance contracts to ensure the machines work to requirements.

“The maintenance programmes are flexible and cost-effective and designed for the customers’ machines, workload, machine hours and number of visits required,” said Weinig’s Neal Reid.

“The benefits to customers are that visits fit in with shutdowns and production schedules; there are fewer breakdowns and maximum production time; the pricing system includes a 20% discount in labour costs; and the work is guaranteed for three months.”

Francis Dalton agrees. “Regular maintenance contracts are also increasingly important to us,” he said. “We actively encourage companies large and small to sign up to service agreements with our company, whereby they are visited by an engineer once or twice a year, as required, to have all their equipment checked over to ensure that it is in full working (and safe) condition.”

He believes it is getting easier to ‘sell’ this idea to the trade. “Customers seem to be fully aware of the importance of not only keeping on the right side of health and safety, but also keeping their equipment in good operating order to avoid costly, ill-timed breakdowns.”

With large investments in production methods, modern woodworking machines are becoming increasingly reliable. However, points out SCM’s John Allenby, they shouldn’t be compared to other products such as cars.

“We work in an industry where there is a great deal of waste, dust and resin produced when machining,” he said. “They will ultimately impact on a machine’s performance if not kept in check and regular servicing is not carried out.”

SCM engineers cover the full range of SCM Group branded products, however old, including Mini Max, Sandya, DMC, Morbidelli, and IDM. In addition, as part of its General Service Contracts, the company can include other manufacturers’ machines. “We do not currently service finishing equipment as this is a specialised product but, as SCM has recently acquired companies in this sector, we may well be doing so in the future,” added Mr Allenby.

PUWER regulations

The final compliance dates for woodworking machinery to meet the PUWER (Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations) 1998 regulations (imposing strict liability on an employer to keep equipment in good repair) came last year. But many firms still seem to be in the dark on the topic – or are still updating their machines, as Francis Dalton explains: “Much of the work in recent months for our Service Department has been connected with the PUWER regulations. Even now, after the dates for compliance have come and gone, we are still receiving orders for updating/modifying existing machinery, fitting electric brakes and new guarding.”

Daltons offers servicing and aftercare for a wide range of machinery, from small sawbenches and planers for the modest-sized joiner or cabinet maker to planing and moulding machines, band resaws, wide-belt sanders and routers. It is also increasingly becoming involved with CNC machining centres and edge-banders as these types of machines are added to its portfolio.

With machines increasingly required to work harder, faster and longer, servicing is the obvious solution to maximise performance. As the experts will tell you, it’s not rocket science: servicing means success.