Up and running

Downtime is costly. In the auto industry, it’s estimated that losses of up to $50,000 per minute can be attributed to machines breaking down. One study suggests that 80 percent of industrial facilities can’t accurately predict their downtime, but the estimate is that between 5 and 20 percent of productivity is lost due to downtime.

Steve Ulmer, vice president of sales at Omax Corp., fully understands the pain points associated with breakdowns, and notes the company has made customer service and tech support part of the foundation of the organization.

“Any machine you buy can be the best piece of equipment or machinery you’ve ever bought,” he says, “but without good technical support, without good training and customer service, that machine can be rendered useless.”