Rapid Prototyping Equipment Financing
Independent Maintenance And Upgrades:
Making Sure It Works For The Next User
There's a lot more to preserving the value of an RP system than just signing a factory maintenance contract. And not everyone prefers factory maintenance. Some people feel they can get better service and better value from an independent firm that provides maintenance and support. Others start out with factory maintenance and then, for one or another reason, switch to an independent.
If you prefer independent service, there are a few things you have to think about in addition to the considerations surrounding factory maintenance.
- You should seek assurance from the manufacturer and the service company that you (and your maintenance company) can get factory parts at the same prices paid by others.
- You will want assurance from that manufacturer that the machine can be put back under factory maintenance. If this requires an inspection and qualification procedure, you will want to know what this costs. Additionally, if there is any work that the factory technicians must perform to qualify the system for renewed factory maintenance, you will want assurance that this work will be done at the same cost and under the same terms and conditions as similar work done for other users of the same type of RP system.
- You will want assurance that any factory inspection and maintenance qualification process will be based on the same procedures and criteria as the inspection of a system that has always been maintained by the factory. That is, you don't want the manufacturer to punish you for having switched maintenance companies.
- Before you engage in independent maintenance company, you will want assurance in writing that all parts provided by the third party, whether supplied by the system's manufacturer or not, will be equal to or better in quality than those provided by the manufacturer under its factory service plans.
- You also need to be sure that any parts replaced by maintenance technicians will enable the machine to pass standard diagnostic tests and generally qualify for factory maintenance, should you want to switch back or if the next owner prefers factory maintenance.
- A special situation can develop in cases where you bring in an independent firm to upgrade an RP system. For example, you might arrange for the installation of a superior laser. If you do this, you might want to know in advance whether this new laser will disqualify the system from factory maintenance and, if so, what it would cost to restore the original laser so the system is once again eligible for factory maintenance.
If you don't take care of these things at the outset, you can be pretty sure they will become a problem when you try to sell the system. The manufacturer will want your buyer to take a new machine from the factory instead of that used machine you are offering, and look for reasons or excuses that would disqualify your machine.
To add insult to injury, the manufacturer might at that point offer to buy the used machine from you (at less than you were hoping to get). This won't be an act of kindness. There's a pretty good chance the manufacturer will clean the machine up and sell it as a refurbished product . . . for a lot more than you've been paid.
And that's only one complication. Things can get really puzzling when it comes to licensing software.
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