The Value of Preventive Maintenance

Recently, I met with a long time customer in the financial services industry. We chatted about the rash of recent service calls due to clogged condenser water strainers, some of which were after hours and on weekends.  We agreed that there was obviously degradation in the condenser water quality. The fact that this was a high rise and the customer was a tenant and had no control over the condenser water gave us few options. It was clear however, that the quarterly maintenance was no longer adequate to prevent equipment shutdowns.

 

While the long term solution is the improvement of the condenser water quality or some type of systemic filtration, the short term fix was to propose more frequent strainer cleanings. We agreed to perform monthly strainer cleanings for the six months remaining on the maintenance contract. At renewal time, customer requested that we add the additional strainer cleanings to his contract. I priced the added cleanings and submitted the modified pricing. After a few days, the pricing got kicked back from their purchasing department due to the increase in the contract pricing. What were they paying for they asked, what were they getting for the increase?

 

At a follow up meeting, I presented a download of every one of their service calls over the last 6 months. Upon review, it was noted that the additional strainer cleanings resulted in the elimination of strainer related service calls. What were they paying for? It’s quite simple. They were paying to eliminate the increased cost and inconvenience of unscheduled/after-hours service calls and also to reduce the possibility of losing critical financial data due to systems shutting down. In essence, they were paying for peace of mind.