We have a 400ci with a fuser code. Now the fusers are backorered for two weeks. How do you tell a customer that there machine will be down for two weeks

This is the same with the developing units
depend on how big of a customer it is we will open pm kits

quote:

Originally posted by Mark B:
We have a 400ci with a fuser code. Now the fusers are backorered for two weeks. How do you tell a customer that there machine will be down for two weeks

Once upon a time techs would repair assy.'s rather than swapping them out. Blown lamp? got an old fuser with a good lamp? Open Thermal Fuse? Hello RadioShack? Just get it running and when the new fuser comes in swap it out and put the working one on a shelf for next time you have a machine down. Just my opinion. -Cope

They don't sell parts for the fuser, and I'm sure Mark would want to send his bad unit in for credit instead of keeping it on a shelf.

We have two machines down for a middle feed assy. One has been down for two months. A shipment was received about a week ago, but we did not get a unit--too many on back order. Kyocera is supposed to have some in on the 22nd, but cannot promise that we will get any this time around.

25 drum units on backorder for the fs-4000 not going to get them until the end of april, sucks.


Doedee316

C4035E drum unit on B/O til the end of March. Pm kits (A) for that model on B/O no ETA as of today. MK's for 820 still on B/O for a month now not due til the 12th.

Have started saving units from PM kits that are in decent shape, can parse them out as necessary. Can now rebuild a Voyager fuser (Belt) in about 35 minutes now.

Have started using Katun 2050 drum kits, seem to work pretty good. $100 less than an OEM drum. Really wish they'd make a 2050 UFR!!

The B/O's are daily now and for things KM should know better on.

Z

quote:

Originally posted by WeBeJammin:
They don't sell parts for the fuser, and I'm sure Mark would want to send his bad unit in for credit instead of keeping it on a shelf.

I'm sorry I meant NO derogatory implication towards any tech here. (Looking back I can definitely see where that meaning could be read that way) I was more referring to the very fact you state, that there is a clear trend from ALL manufacturers to focus on assemblies and not release parts. This shift in direction is achieving multiple goals that all seem good for the manufacturer (overseas not the N. American branches) but is infinitely damaging to the dealers and even the American Market as a whole. By "dumbing down" the technician's required skill-set they are able to reduce the payroll expense of payroll, which seems like a good thing, but effectively decreases the customer's perception of/from the people most visible as representative of the brand. Leaves the dealers spending their contract margins on parts to support the encouraged habits of the assembly swapping mentality. And reduces the life cycle of the machine as it often comes to the point of "I don't know what's wrong with it I changed the fuser, LSU, IU, and every board so let's replace IT."
As far as billable machines go, it seems like it would increase your margins selling more expensive parts, but which is more likely to make the dealer money? Selling 2 fuser rollers and a Thermistor each able to be acceptably marked up by 200-300% for $200? Or selling one Fuser Unit that costs $160 and can usually only be marked up by about $100 MAYBE 100% depending on the box? Then there is the fact that labor hours are also sold at an average of 40% mark-up, and swapping a fuser and resetting a code is done in 10 minutes, if you really drag your feet.You clean optics and poke a vacuum around for a while. Then you may even spend 5 minutes wiping down the covers.You have just spent 20 minutes on a 1 hour minimum, and you have to explain to the customer why you won't do some filing for the next half hour since they've got to pay you for an hours work anyway. It's no wonder there are so many IT guys wanting to download a service manual and buy their parts on line. Wouldn't you if you just saw your mechanic spend 10 minutes swapping out the "transmission cartridge" and then bill you for 1/3-1/2 of the cars current value?
I know many of you are thinking "but a majority of our customers are contract". But this is one of the negatives, not one of the positives, and it is partially caused by the very issue I am referring to. Contracts are great, don't get me wrong, they provide the means to a stable constant cash flow. Which is necessary for a dealer to maintain through the ups and downs of an inherently cyclic industry. But with salesmen often setting the CPC rate, (which I'll get into more in a minute) local competition, and national accounts, the margins are in the T&M clients NOT the MA's.
So since the profits are not coming in from the service departments, most dealers get hung up on the flashy numbers in the sales department, which is a lose lose situation. With the internet and direct manufacturer competition, a salesman is really working a miracle if he/she can get a 20% mark-up. Of course at least 20% of that goes straight to the salesman in commissions. Then you figure an average of 15% goes to delivery, set-up, and key-op training costs. (on a small box this is often more like 150%) And now you look at the losses to the service department, since supersalesman had to entice the customer with a .006 cpc in order to get that 20% markup. And since the average cpc based on rated yields is more like .008 for consumable parts and supplies alone, you have to either have the techs work for free or sacrifice reliability with generics and skipped PM's just to break even. So how much of that 20% margin do we have left? Oh wait we're losing money again and we haven't even mentioned the T&M profits that we used to enjoy in the 4th and 5th years of the life cycle after the traditional contract period is passed...Oh wait, nevermind. Supersalesman has been putting the boxes out on 60 month leases with the MA included in the lease payments, and then rolls over the lease replacing the machine every 36mos. to get his cut of that 20% mark-up. I'm sorry I'm getting off on a rant, but my point was the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean divisions of the manufacturers make all their money off of selling us more machines and more assemblies...but who's going to promote, install and support those machines and assemblies when the N. American divisions and dealers can no longer afford to lose money hand over fist? When the customers won't buy the machines because they are known to be a disposable brand or to offer very bad support the profits will dry up even for the overseas divisions. I guess it's lucky all the brands are guilty of the same trends right? But who will be the first to turn back to sensibility and drive the others under in a quick easy sweep? I just don't see anyone coming out for the better in the end unless the trend takes a very unexpected turn. I'll stop rambling now. -Cope

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Cope,

As a small dealer, I get a lot of encouragement to keep the parts inventory low. Like Z, I have been holding onto PM parts that have reached life, and have a little left. The Voyager fusers are not that bad to swap parts around, and I suspect that the Saturn won't be much different.

Regardless of warranty or non-warranty, I cannot make my customers wait several days (or weeks) for warranty parts. Our dealership ordered three Voyager fusers up-front for the purposes of keeping the machines running until the warranty parts arrive. Other than Voyager dev units, there haven't been any other chronic warranty issues.

I understand where you're coming from Cope. It's been a gradual change over a lot of years, and I don't know how it can be turned around.

I had a conversation with an agitated IT rep the other day. He wanted to know why the machine firmware wasn't available on the public website. The methods for loading firmware have improved alot over the years, but not enough that I would trust it in the hands of an enduser. Especially if I'm expected to contract that machine. I don't think he liked that answer, but I'm not going to hand over firmware to an enduser. =^..^=

think anyone that has a kyocera colour machine with dev drum or fuser units that have reached life has done amazingly well. lets face it the only reason they are on backorder is because the demand is so high. which means the so called long life units are not long life but in our experience very short life and very costly and a pain in the arse to warranty. just make a colour machine that works and save us and our customers a lot of hassle.km sell these machines to us on the basis of long life units which is how we sell them to our customers, which is fine if it works but kyocera colour is on the whole s..t.

The thing is that we do keep 1 fuser of of each kind in stock but since it is backorered we do not have one now. We feel that one should be enough, because they should work. Just like I do not keep three engines for my car because it is not near the end of its life span. The machine in question is less than a year old and has about 60K on it.

yeah like i said s..t. good example using car engine scenario. would like to meet the designer of these black voyagers and shake him gently by the boll...s. the annoying thing is you wouldnt mind if the task alfa colour boxes were the range after the c2630s or 850s but they werent we had the garbage voyagers then the task alfas. you would like to think they would have learned from their mistakes but no. we have sold existing customers who had 3035 mono machines which were brilliant and sold them these garbage colour machines. judging by the feedback we are getting and the trouble calls we will not have these customers next time around. cant think why i drink!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh boy..Oh boy..Oh boy.. I started a few post in the past asking about the reliability of the TaskAlpha Color units. And have now slowly switched from the Konica color back to the Copystar. The Konica IU Costs along with Fuser, Transfer Belt failure in addition to the poor warranty, Kyocera seemed like a safer choice.
Now I am sitting on my hands asking myself " Do I go all in with Kyocera or revert back to the Konica"

With the backorder issues discussed here, we have all been there and it is not a fun situation to be in when you cannot fix the machine because you cannot get the parts.
What do you tell the customer when their machine is down and you cannot repair it. It ruins your reputation and Kyocera. We are on the front line trying very hard to uphold Kyocera Image, and you begin to wonder if Kyocera really cares.

All of the comments and issues in this thread along with the layoffs and lack of a qualified Regional Tech Support person and/or a knowledgable hotline makes it a challenge for a small business to provide the service that is needed today.
It begins to feel like Quicksand, the more you do the deeper you get.

quote:
(Originally posted by Doedee316)
"25 drum units on backorder for the fs-4000 not going to get them until the end of april, sucks."

Try cleaning the main charge roller with just a paper towel and water. We have found that water will take off the dirt where the other cleaners won't. Might help you get some machines running until the drums come in.

if we cant get a machine back up for whatever reason...we take a loaner(s). they understand the b/o issue as well as can be expected, but if they are still able to continue, they are mostly happy.

I have a couple of used drums for the 4000 if you need them fact can you use the whole machines I have 2 of them and they work

I would go back to the Konica , are dealer ship did

quote:

Originally posted by Ballpark:
Oh boy..Oh boy..Oh boy.. I started a few post in the past asking about the reliability of the TaskAlpha Color units. And have now slowly switched from the Konica color back to the Copystar. The Konica IU Costs along with Fuser, Transfer Belt failure in addition to the poor warranty, Kyocera seemed like a safer choice.
Now I am sitting on my hands asking myself " Do I go all in with Kyocera or revert back to the Konica"

With the backorder issues discussed here, we have all been there and it is not a fun situation to be in when you cannot fix the machine because you cannot get the parts.
What do you tell the customer when their machine is down and you cannot repair it. It ruins your reputation and Kyocera. We are on the front line trying very hard to uphold Kyocera Image, and you begin to wonder if Kyocera really cares.

All of the comments and issues in this thread along with the layoffs and lack of a qualified Regional Tech Support person and/or a knowledgable hotline makes it a challenge for a small business to provide the service that is needed today.
It begins to feel like Quicksand, the more you do the deeper you get.

We usually just give the customer a loaner anything to keep them up and going.

While the backorders are bad, this is an exception, not a rule. Usually parts are on hand and sent out quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by QDOSMAN:
quote:
(Originally posted by Doedee316)
"25 drum units on backorder for the fs-4000 not going to get them until the end of april, sucks."

Try cleaning the main charge roller with just a paper towel and water. We have found that water will take off the dirt where the other cleaners won't. Might help you get some machines running until the drums come in.

Not one to push Katun but they have a charge cleaning towelette that works like a champ!
I would however not recommend their toner.....