Some time ago we handled a case that shows exactly what it means to have a drive out of service at the worst possible moment: right before the company’s summer shutdown. A metalworking company, a faulty DC drive and very little time.
What made the difference was an identical DCD servo converter that we had in stock. Here is how we solved the case, step by step.
It all started with a phone call
The owner of a metalworking company called us because a DC axis drive had stopped working. Before contacting us, the owner had already run the most useful check: in the cabinet of the machine tool, two identical servo driveson two different axes had been swapped, and the fault had followed the converter. The problem, therefore, was not in the machine but in the drive. In practice, the diagnosis arrived together with the call.
From serial number to model
With the serial number and model we immediately identified the faulty Alter servo drive: a model we had sold in 2006. We then laid out the two possible options for the customer: repair or replacement.
Repair or replace: the calendar decided
There was only one problem, and it was time. We were right before the summer shutdown, and a repair, with bench work and testing, would not have met the deadline.
The answer was in stock
We ran a quick search in our management system, and the warehouse had the answer: we had a DCD servo converter identical to the faulty one. We made it available to the customer right away.
One trip, two issues settled
The customer decided to collect it in person, driving two hours, and on the same trip left us the unit to be repaired. One trip, two issues settled.
Back at the workshop, some configuration issues came up: the product designer handled them directly and remotely. Production was able to restart and August operations were back on track.
What this case left us with
- The first point is about stock. When products stay in the catalogue for decades, the warehouse stops being just a cost and becomes a distinguishing factor: it guarantees the immediate restart of a machine installed many years ago.
- The second is about speed, which in this case came not from urgency but from the archive. Knowing and documenting what you have built means that a serial number is enough to reconstruct everything else.
- The third is about the customer: anyone who drives four hours round trip knows that, if problems arise, on the other side they will find the people who designed that very part.
- The holidays began all the same, with one less machine standing idle and one more converter on the bench, to be repaired in September.
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