Machinery made by Standard Engineering is never going to be as cheap as key machines, or indeed, Chinese copies of our machines. But, most of the equipment we build and supply, here in the UK, represent some of the larger investments a shoe repairer makes in their business. I am always mindful of this, and make sure that we deal sympathetically with enquiries and try to understand exactly what the customer needs and what best suits their business.
Invariably when a customer deals with Standard, it will be to make a capital purchase, with contact being relatively minimal, but intense. Whilst many return after purchasing from us previously, there isn’t usually the repeat business relationship that can be built up with suppliers of consumables who the repairer may call on a weekly or fortnightly basis. No, at Standard we generally deal with customers on a decade basis!
This is one of the reasons we are happy to catch-up with members of the trade at Exhibitions, as we may not have spoken for years! An observation we have noticed, at both Cutting Edge Exhibitions and when dealing with enquiries in the office, is a definite drift towards new equipment when setting up or refurbishing a shop. Indeed, as it’s been so long since the purchase of their last machine, it becomes even more important to understand the differences between more elderly machines and our latest offerings.
Leaving aside “queries” where someone has woken up that morning and decided to become a cobbler, and for under a grand would like a finisher, press, outsole and insole stitchers, most enquiries for our machinery are genuine and we help as best we can.
Prior to 2010, an enquiry either on the telephone or via our website would invariably be for reconditioned equipment. A common misconception is that reconditioned machinery is very cheap and new is very expensive!
In fact, with the additional work that reconditioned machinery needs (the old machine needs to be fully stripped and the metalwork shotblast back to bare metal) along with the cost of buying, or trading in the machine, the difference in price between brand new and reconditioned isn’t enormous.
Typically, a new Model 710 finisher is less than 30% more costly than its reconditioned counterpart! For this small additional amount, everything on the machine is brand new, and built bespoke from scratch. Suddenly the extra 30% spread over the 15-20 years minimum life of the finisher suddenly seems a sensible investment.
I strongly believe repairers shouldn’t have to work around moderate running, old equipment, often powered by enormous converter boxes, just to save a few bob, which will probably end up being spent anyway on powering enormous motors, or replacing expensive, foreign wearing parts. These days most of our machinery sales are for new equipment for this very reason.
The right machine to suit the customer, their shop and their power supply is the most important factor when making a capital purchase. If you are serious about shoe repairing, and require the best, competitively priced equipment available, new has to be the way to go.
With this in mind, we at Standard have decided to invest time and money in a research and development programme that better reflects the products our customers are looking for. The main drivers for this development is keeping costs down, to keep our machinery competitive, and, energy efficient, to keep your costs to a minimum. The model 720 is a direct result of this on-going drive for better machinery, producing the most comprehensive finisher available to the market. Price-wise, this latest development of the 700 range of machines, will cost as little as £3 per week more, over the expected life of the machine, than our bestselling 710!
Likewise with the fume filtering Air-Flo press-bench, we at Standard continue to look not just for today’s solutions, but tomorrows!
I am uniquely positioned, probably in the World, in being an ex-repairer who is now able, through my company, to influence the design and performance of the very machines I once used. I know what I would have liked to have seen on my old machines and try to make sure our new equipment offers more options to the operator. Hopefully, these developments represent at least some of mine, and hopefully your preferences.
Not just content with building better, more efficient machines, we looked at the tooling options afforded to the operator and looked at ways of offering development in other areas too. Our flash activator range is now fitted with automatic shut-off. A small change one may say, except when you consider the power usage and the savings achieved. We estimate it will cover its cost within two years on power savings alone!
One of the main features and selling points on our 720 finisher is the speed control functions on both the extraction and scouring motors. As well as giving the operator complete control of how they use the machine and adapt it for different materials, the machine can generate an energy saving of as much as 30%. This coupled with the noise level reduction can be invaluable when conversing with both customers and colleagues alike.
Using non-ferrous polyamide materials within our machines, we have been able to make further efficiency savings as well as increasing reliability. This has helped us keep costs down and offer our machines as a much more desirable item of purchase. We have even dipped into the past briefly and updated the much loved mini band, which has been upgraded and is now available for both our new generation of finishers and can be retro-fitted to some earlier 700 models.
So, please feel free and take the opportunity to come and speak to me or one of my colleagues at the Cutting Edge Exhibition. I am proud of the equipment we produce, and, as anyone who has met me will testify, I’m always happy to talk about it!
Keith Malyon
MD Standard Engineering Ltd
