Ep. #22: Common Service and Maintenance Issues

He discusses the rigorous training all Arabon service technicians respond to. Every day. You're listening to right from the source, expert insights on safety, security, and you can see. Hello listeners, this is right from the source and today's guest We've got Ken Wildman. Today we're going to be talking about some common service issues that we might see in facilities.

So Ken, thanks for being here today. Appreciate it, thank you. So let's start off with your title and some background on your involvement in the industry and with Right Height and Arbon. So my role right now is the Arbon service training manager. Uh I've been in the industry now for thirty eight years, twenty six of them with Arbon Equipment, which is a right height company.

Started out as a service technician. So turning wrenches in the field and over the years uh transferred on to multiple jobs. And now in this current role I'm responsible for developing training methods for our service technicians. Very cool. Outside of work, any hobbies or passions that you want to share with our listeners?

Like most technicians, I have somewhat of a hero complex or a savior complex. I love helping people. Love trying to find solutions, working our way through it. And then to brighten your day, it's always about grandchildren. They definitely can take a bad day and make it good. That's awesome. No, I I love that. As a recent parent myself, that's what my parents are telling me, that uh being a a grandparent is absolutely the best. It's the reward.

We work hard raising your children, grandkids are the reward for it. So good perspective to have. So let's dive into our questions here today. So in the broadest sense, What might a typical day look like for a service technician? What happens in a typical day or is there? Every day starts with a plan. There's always a basic foundation for it, what we're going to be doing, what the intent of the day is. But in the service industry it's very dynamic. Throughout the day the phone is still ringing.

Things happen on job sites, the unforeseen uh jobs taking longer, taking less time, and just the volume of business that the influx that happens within a day. So they all start the same, but we all know that every day is going to change. Typically they're going to be doing uh plan maintenance, so a quarterly service on uh equipment for a customer which is a clean, inspect, lubricate, and adjust and then document.

They'll have PMs with that out there. They'll then tie in some service work, whether it be a quota job from a previous week or two where parts were being waited for, or it could have been a call-in from the day before. on damage from a forklift or from a truck backing into something. And then we also have the emergency service calls that come into play. If a freezer door gets stuck open at the end of the day, they need that door closed, or a exterior door for security has to be closed.

So th throughout the day everything is always changing with it, but in a technician's perspective, it's pretty basic. Something's broken, the customer would like it fixed, and that's what we do. Ciao!

A service technician comes to a job where he or she knows that they're gonna be at for that day. What kinds of things are are they looking for to make sure that you know, something isn't breaking down or will break down soon, are there certain cues or clues that they're looking at? Lots of little hidden ones out there and that's really what that preventative maintenance is doing. That the planning

maintenance that we want to work with. Focuses on trying to identify the longevity of all the parts. So friction is the enemy. In our world we have massive machinery driving across dock levelers, through door openings, a lot of moving parts, and friction happens very quickly just from dirt and dust and debris. So the whole goal is we want to be able to get out there, clean that equipment, get a good look, and try to get a determination on how long that equipment's going to last.

add the lubrication to it, get it in its proper working form, and then with that documentation it ties it all in. We're trying to do a history log for the customer. Nothing lasts forever. So it's a process of is this something that's gonna last two years, three years, ten years, fifteen years and that documentation is really a key part. of that plan maintenance program and allows the customer to plan in advance when things will need to be changed.

Can you talk a little bit about pieces of equipment that maybe tend to need the most service or most regular service and is it due to just maybe the function of that product or some just maybe not built as as well as others? In our industry, probably the most common is with doors. Doors are front and center.

So at the loading dock going in and out of tractor trailers in the middle of facilities, that's the main thoroughfare. And through these openings, it's forklifts. It's product moving at very high rates of speed. So damage which creates that service call is happening nonstop. Um just bound to happen. All equipment though does need service. Uh you don't drive your car until it breaks.

You want to be proactive, put a plan in place for it, and maintain things out there, and you know that sooner or later something will break out. Yeah, obviously any time that there's a a major issue that's when people are gonna tend to call Are there any pieces of equipment that people tend to really wanna make sure that are are part of that plan maintenance program? Anything besides doors, anything that might be at the loading dock or or otherwise?

With dock levelers as well as restraints and even safety barriers that we work on, because of the exposure to the elements in the facility itself and that high moving traffic back and forth, um, damage is going to happen. So proactively they try to take that stand. we take it for granted. You drive across a dock lever with a forklift all day long, moving product in and out. It's just a big piece of steel.

What they don't see is everything underneath it, and by putting maintenance programs in place for that. It allows us to get out there in a proactive measure, identify things, small things, and address them up front. Same with vehicle restraints. On the outside of the building, they're being impacted by tractor trailers. in all the weather. They don't see it, they're just pushing buttons inside the building.

But the moment it fails that they know they're going to have an issue. So again, proactive measures of, yep, somebody needs to be looking at that, keeping an eye on it. And being certain that it's it's going to stay functional in its proper manner.

So you mentioned there, Drew, just like a lot of times there you've got a worker in the facility who's just pushing a button and you know things happen. What kinds of things do you deal with uh with control boxes and maybe issues that arise with those? With control boxes, again, they're front and center. So they're right there by those positions, high volume of traffic going through. So they do run into'em. They smash them, and you have the abuse of people using them.

With that plan maintenance program again, we're looking at the entire system for it. So it's not just the dock level or underneath. But it's going to incr control also your control box, your dock bumpers on the outside. It's the entire position itself as one functioning unit. Control boxes don't tend to go bad. Over time you're gonna have wear of electrical items and but we see more of the abusive nature from impact.

exposure to uh elements. So if water gets in a control box or frost or anything like that. Then there's issues.

Would you say that when a technician goes to a job, he or she's able to repair it on spot or there are We try to put the parts on our trucks for our customer base. So as we're going out there and doing PMs and we're seeing component where and the replacements of those, we're tracking those parts, so then we are proactively stocking those parts.

being more prepared for it. So our goal is that we want to be able to go to the customer, make the repair on the spot and leave and get them up and running and not have to wait for parts. But in the same essence we can't carry a brand new piece of equipment around in our truck just waiting to find one that needs to be replaced. So there are some limitations but The primary goal of us is that we're in front of the customer. We have what we need on the truck and can make that repair.

As far as uh technicians themselves go, what kinds of training goes into becoming a technician if you're gonna work for Right Height and be a part of the the Arbon team there? Back in the day when I came on board it was simple. Uh I was a youngster, a a teenager getting into my early twenties, so I knew everything already. Uh it was pretty simple. Um I thought I did until the first day. Then I realized I don't know anything about it.

Training back then, it was more of a deal through osmosis. You would ride with someone, you would be a helper, and try to learn from them as they're doing things out there. Today's time, technology has helped us with all of that. We have processes in place for it that allow us to really focus in and help people get that training they need. In the world of Arbond equipment, we do a skills-based pay program.

So our technicians actually take demonstration tests, physically doing things like welding, and then we can hone in on their strengths and weaknesses of it and develop a true dedicated program for them to help achieve the next level. Training is never ending. It happens all the time, every day, and just when you think that you have learned everything, we roll out new products and technology changes again.

So it's a it's an evolving process that we work on. But with that education process The amount of training that a typical technician has throughout a course of a year is over a hundred hours. Wow. When you start looking at what we need to be working on with the equipment and learning and staying up on it. And it's driven by our customers as well. Our customers utilize equipment differently.

So as they integrate it in with different machinery, we have to adapt as well and understand their functions, leading to more training for it. So they've probably seen this piece of equipment, they've probably seen this problem, even if it's the first time they've maybe been in the field dealing with it, it's not the first time they've ever actually worked on this particular problem or challenge.

That's usually the case. We never say never. There's always that one time of what is that and how does it work? Um Because we do have some oddball things that are out there. Customers have designed and made things themselves and integrated different components from different manufacturers. create something, those are a little off the cuff, but the concepts for all of them are the same.

You know, as far as doors. Doors either go up and down or they go left and right. You know, it's that basic concept. A dock leveler is bridging the gap from a building into a tractor trailer. how it raises and if it's mechanical or air hydraulic, that's a little bit all different, but the functionality is all the same. Mm-hmm. Um, so it's not the shock and awe factor of the old days where you pulled in and you're like, Oh boy, what am I in store for?

So to the potential customers who might be out there who are saying, Yeah, we've actually kind of jerry rigged our own little system here. Why should those companies or why should companies who maybe just uh feel like they've got their own little handy guy on staff who can do this for you know, for free, so to speak?

Why should they consider a a program that Arbon or Right Height offers where a a service technician is is coming in? Most companies have someone. They have a maintenance guy or a maintenance department. And they're skilled in so many different things. A lot of them spend years going to school for it, learning building infrastructure from plumbing and electrical distribution and highvax systems and ammonia line.

And they've kind of mastered those deals. What we're working on is a totally separate entity that they're not familiar with. What we do is pretty dangerous and they're not aware that when they go underneath the dock level, they have a thousand pound steel plate above their head. And the potential of that coming down and crushing them is real. And unfortunately it happens in the industry every year out there where people are unfamiliar with the potential danger.

So by having us come in, that's what we do. We don't do highvax systems or plumbing or electrical. We're going in and focusing on what we do and we are the expert. No different than your car. Again, you can do the basic maintenance on your car. Maybe you'll change your own oil. Rotate your own tires. But if you saw transmission fluid in your driveway, you're going to take it to an expert. You're not going to handle that yourself.

We're the experts out there where we can see and recognize those things and take care of it the right way in a safe manner. So what's something else that you would say that maybe your guys with Arbon and Wright Height can do on a job that maybe their own staff

Can't do. With the trained service professional, the ultimate goal, it's not just about fixing something, it's providing the solution for it. So your maintenance guy who goes out there and oh the fuse is bad or that part is bad and they change that part. That didn't fix anything. That got the equipment up and running for it, but the next day that same thing can happen again.

So everyone has a door in their facility and in our industry doors get smashed all the time. So we're constantly going out and changing track on a door. Well, if you go in there and you just take the old track off that was smashed and put the new one on, two days later, the exact same problem is going to happen again. You're going to smash the track.

So that repair then becomes redundant. You have to do it again. And a month later it happens again and you do it again. You haven't fixed anything. You're just replacing components. When we come in, the goal is to identify that root cause. And once we have a root cause, then we can find a solution for it. Righthead is all about solutions. That's really what builds our product line. We work with customers and identify the challenges and then try to incorporate solutions in.

And with the solutions. The customer can do them themselves. So with that door example, driving a double wide forklift load into a truck or trailer, you're you're totally blind. You have no visual aids for it about twenty feet away from the door. You just hold on the steering wheel and go straight and hope for the best. Um by simply putting lines on the floor. That adds a visual to guide them into the trailer and not hit the track.

We can protect the track. We can put ballards up and different uh devices of guards to protect all that, but again, something as basic as a reference line, that makes the difference. So the goal is to lay that out for the customer and offer solutions for it. not just go in and fix the part every other week and walk away.

How important is safety really baked into what a service technician does and um how important are following all the safety protocols for them while on the job? Safety is everything every day. Safety does take time, and everyone needs to understand that and embrace that. With our dock equipment, as I mentioned, it's inherently dangerous to crawl underneath the dock level or work 30 feet in the air on a piece of equipment that has an auto start.

So those hazards are surrounding us out there in the field. We need to identify them right away and eliminate that potential with it. Red Hit uses a SAFE acronym, so the word SAFE is SAFE. We use the S for stop, so prior to any task we want to stop and really survey what are we going to be doing and what potentially could hurt us. And that leads into the assess portion of it where could someone walk around a corner and surprise us? What if a button was pushed?

Uh someone was able to do something else that affected us. As we're going through it, what other outside forces? After the A for assessed, we had the F for focus. Whatever we've laid out, that's the plan that we want to stick with. So we want to focus and be certain we're only doing those things. And the E is executing that plan and knowing that if anything changes along the way, we need to stop.

Start that process all over again. Right height safety policies, they're the best that we have out there. When you look at our competitors out there, what we require and our expectations. And it's ingrained into our technicians. And it's not just an annual safety training that OSHA requires, it's day in and day out. Every work order that a technician signs into, it starts off with safety training.

And they have to literally go through and identify those hazards, click those hazards, and review our SOPs for that. All right. Well, Ken, we thank you for your time here today. And uh for our listeners, be sure to follow right height. on all social media platforms as well as Arbon, and for additional information on these topics or to connect with a team member, visit right com and Arbonnequipment.com. Ken, thanks again. Thank you.

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