Hi all,
Steve presented an interesting situation regarding the cost of the
replacement parts for his printer. Being a fellow veteran “equipment guy” he
accurately points out that supporting and older machine is a bit more expensive. I
looked in the situation with the front door cover strut and, apparently, as
a result of time, inflation and, most importantly, lower volume purchases
(since that part is no longer used in current equipment), the price has gone up.
As one of my hobbies is keeping some older sports cars alive and running, I
have run into this syndrome quite a bit and empathize with both sides.
The Edge Clamp Foil dilemma boggled my mind. I had to look into this -
inquiring minds want to know. As it turns out, one of my clients recently
undertook some upgrade work to their older DEK printer. I inquired about the
prices they encountered and the aforementioned clamps were $217 (where, as Steve
mentioned, they were previously $184). Not too bad. However, a complete
upgrade from the original system to a the quick change clamp system cost ( a
year ago) $1284. That’s more like it. (Again, that was a year ago, though, and
I suspect the conversion costs even more now – again lower demand and volume
purchased, not to mention our fragile dollar). And at least they were in
stock! K Jaworenko's experience with having to wait 32 weeks for replacement
parts from an equipment supplier is deplorable.
Maybe I’m too altruistic, but I really don’t think (and hope) that the more
reputable equipment manufacturers have to resort to gouging on spares to
coerce us to buy newer machines. Certainly, some seem to have their acts
together better than others. Of course our experiences, both in use and support
with these manufacturers will influence our next purchasing decision just as
much as their specifications will and they are aware of that. But, speaking as
someone who spent a lot of time on the equipment side, supporting older
machines both in terms of spares and retrofits is a tough part of the business.
One further suggestion when contemplating a used piece of equipment and
calling the OEM's field service department and chatting with a field service
tech. Besides being the guys who actually work on the machines, most field
service techs are opinionated and tell it like it is - good or bad. (Sometimes
they can be the "anit-salesman"). To use my automotive analogy again, if
you're considering buying a used automobile, who better than a mechanic to tell
you what's good and what to watch out for? Again, caveat emptor, indeed.
Phil Zarrow
ITM Consulting
Durham, NH USA
_www.ITMconsulting.org_ (http://www.ITMconsulting.org)
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