CROSSHIRE:

“THAT’S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!”

Let me share with you come comments that have been offered to me during the past few weeks by manufacturers trying to defend what appears to be a growing epidemic: “You are the only customer to report such a problem,” “We’ve sold lots of them and yours is the first one to spew oil all over a client’s (expensive) flooring,” and “That’s never happened before!”

Many of our suppliers of equipment, from power tools to heavy metal, are seemingly skimping on their final quality inspections before sending new products to market. I know that I am not alone in finding that the period of ownership of equipment when it is at its most unreliable is rapidly becoming the first few weeks of its operational life. We have taken delivery of brand new kit that has had axle units come detached within hours of use. In addition, we have had many different products that at best weep oil and at worst have dumped the contents of their hydraulic system over our client’s property. Come on chaps, hydraulic components are light years ahead of what they were 20 years ago and yet you still cannot fit them without pinching the ‘O’ rings or cross threading the pipes, let alone failing to tighten things up correctly! We also had a machine delivered with several important fastenings loose, while another had its safety prop missing. In many of these instances, our first contact with the supplier produced verbal garbage similar to the above quotations. In all cases, once the supplier had been convinced that we were serious in our complaint, it was rectified without charge.

This is all very well, but we have to bear the consequential problems and costs associated with such matters when they occur on our customers’ jobs, very often involving the cost of substituting another machine whilst the offending item is rectified. No doubt the clout that the really big fleet
buyers have allows them to recover some of these related costs, but my experience is that, with one or two honourable exceptions, most manufacturers will resist such claims from the majority of their customers. The general attitude prevailing with suppliers seems to be that, as they will put faults right under warranty, it is okay to skimp on final inspection during the production process. Is this because they calculate that many hire companies will rectify small faults themselves without too much moaning in the rush to get kit out on hire? Are full order books tempting some makers to put quality control staff on other production duties? In effect, our industry is doing much of the final quality inspection for our suppliers because they know that most of us will not hire out even a brand new item without first thoroughly inspecting it.

I have no doubt that the offenders can produce reams of paper to ‘prove’ that they do what the Machinery Directive and HSE regulations require of them. Perhaps it would be better to do less work with the pen and computer, and a little more with the mark one eyeball and spanner! With more and more of our inventory being made in places that were once only known because of their inclusion in schoolboy stamp albums, and international manufacturers sourcing the same component from more than one subcontractor, there is plenty of opportunity for problems to occur. This means that the rationale of buying new and offering the latest technology is going to come back and bite us if the first few hours of use are proving traumatic.

The makers’ final test and inspection process must be fit for purpose so that our industry can have confidence that our latest purchases will not prove an expensive embarrassment. Whilst most suppliers have full order books, they may only pay lip service to our legitimate needs in this area, but I sincerely hope that those of you who have suffered unreasonable problems during early ownership will remind your supplier that ‘what goes around, comes around.’

Executive Hire News › Archives › September 2007 › Crosshire › That's Never Happened Before!

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