A Dutch dairy packing company, part of a leading French dairy and food group with a global reach (and also a very satisfied AmbaFlex SpiralVeyor® user for many years) was recently surprised by some problems caused by a spiral conveyor that seemed to be a Chinese copy. The machine was installed in 2013 and ran for several months before all kinds of problems appeared. Although it is a low duty application, the chain, sprocket and belt guides wore out very quickly and even became a real safety threat when the chain broke. Such problems had never happened with AmbaFlex equipment, and, on the contrary, the end user had specified AmbaFlex in the past because of its high up-time and low cost of ownership.
It turned out that, to save costs, the line integrator had chosen a Chinese copy (one that also infringes AmbaFlex’s technology patents). However, the Chinese supplier did not support the integrator and spares could not be forwarded when they were needed. The result was that it was now costing them even more money in customer satisfaction, reputation damage and replacement costs. The newly installed packing line proved to be as weak as its weakest link.
AmbaFlex agreed to help out the end user and the integrator by repairing the Chinese machine as well as they could and replaced some parts with their own to reduce the down time of the line. However, it was impossible to do a complete and effective overall as the frame of the machine had been built too weakly and imperfectly.
The integrator and end user have now worked out the warrantee claim and a replacement spiral conveyor is on order and ready for delivery soon. Thanks to the actions of the AmbaFlex Customer Service department, the production loss through down time was kept to a minimum. AmbaFlex has no hard feelings about integrators or end users that try to reduce their costs, but is always happy when all parties realise the quality of well-built equipment and the value of good service.
One more proof of AmbaFlex’s leading position in Spiral Conveyor Solutions!
