There’s no getting around it. Relocations are disruptive. And with today’s consolidations and mergers, many organizations are faced with the task of moving very expensive post press equipment. Unfortunately, some facilities managers add unnecessary stress to the project (and themselves) by hiring general contractors who typically subcontract the work to riggers, mechanics and truckers.
The good news? It’s most always the cheaper approach. The bad? Considering how valuable your post press equipment is to your business, it’s often a recipe for unnecessary downtime—and lost productivity. That’s because these workers often lack the technical expertise to both properly decommission and reinstall your finishing equipment.
Who should you trust for machine relocation?
The best, most reliable source for relocating your bindery equipment is its OEM. Many OEMs offer a full-service, start-to-finish menu that includes:
- Pre-install evaluation of space, required utilities and rigging.
- Blueprint of machine’s footprint within new facility.
- Factory baselining after installation, in addition to hardware and software upgrades.
- Engineering support.
- Post-relocation support.
Here’s one customer’s recent relocation experience.
Considering that the goal of most of today’s relocations is to improve efficiencies and workflows, it seems counterintuitive to initiate such an effort with a sub-par strategy. One of Muller Martini’s recent relocations involved the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a part of Tribune Publishing. According to Joel Meyer, its Director of Manufacturing Facilities:
“Ours was a complex, multi-phase process, and I cannot overstate how smooth and seamless the relocation went. We were able to stick to the plan from the get-go, and, most importantly, we did not experience a single production interruption. I cannot say enough about Muller Martini’s staff. They were just top notch and very customer-oriented, always focusing on what we needed.
I would not hire anyone but the OEM. It’s their equipment, and my job is to ensure that the equipment is going to run to OEM standard. The only one who knows OEM standard is the OEM. That’s the bottom line. If I bring in another third party that does not have the tools or resources to plan and execute, then I’m looking for a lot of problems. Probably the Number One reason why I didn’t have those problems was because I went with Muller Martini.”
Many thanks to Joel for his endorsement. If you’re planning to relocate bindery equipment, please contact me.