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Whether laboratory mill, rheometer, viscometer or extruder: Brabender ensures the operability of its equipment for well over 10 years through the right spare parts
Service over the course of an entire instrument’s lifetime
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by Brabender, Germany
ith its 5-Star Service, Brabender strives to keep downtimes as short as possible and the customers’ operating costs low. The German lab equipment manufacturer, based in Duisburg, is offering a number of additional benefits in the category of ‘Value-Added Services’. The company’s principle, ‘where quality is measured’, not only fits perfectly to the material testing equipment but also to Brabender’s services. “We deliver more than just devices,” jokes Kai Kunicke, with the humor that is typical for the Ruhr region. With a wink, the Director of International Service at Brabender refers to the extensive service area of the highly traditional company. “With our customer service, we want to be able to guarantee that our customers will get measurably high availability of their Brabender equipment. To this end, we feature various offers and are also developing new ones, partly with our customers.” The Brabender 5-Star Service includes five service areas that are all closely intertwined.
50 | March 2019 - Milling and Grain
Star One: On-site service – Prevention instead of standstill
Inspection, maintenance and repair – Brabender offers these services at its customers’ locations. Kai Kunicke clarifies, “the worst case is when the device won’t work at all, or no longer works flawlessly. This results in a standstill, necessary replacement parts have to be procured and the device must be repaired. "This is why we take the precaution of replacing components when they are close to the end of their lifecycle. Sometimes this depends on the condition, but we also do this according to plan. That is how we avoid or minimise possible downtimes, which might result in significant follow-up costs for the customer. If you make well-considered provisions, you can avoid a standstill.“ After every inspection, maintenance or repair, Brabender service technicians write a detailed maintenance report that can be archived 1:1 in the equipment log, kept for the test equipment management. “We have over 60 partners worldwide, most of whom also have their own service personnel with workshops. All in all, our 5-Star Service spans a tight net across the globe,” says Kai Kunicke.
Star Two: Spare parts – Using devices for the long-term
Brabender has continued to improve the logistics of its replacement part division over the years. “Our customer service represents a replacement part supply