“Keep young and beautiful…” so sang Eddie Cantor back in the 1930’s.  He also added that “It’s your duty to be beautiful!”  At Standard Engineering we make no such demands on our customers to keep their shoe repair machinery beautiful as such, but it really does pay dividends to at least maintain the kit, “If you want to be loved!”

However, keeping your shoe repair machinery as “young and beautiful” as possible pays a lot of dividends.  We have always recommended many tips for the successful maintenance of their machinery.  Suggestions such as the regular pulling of the bag shaker cable, and daily emptying of the dust drawers on their finishers should be known to all repairers.  This keeps the filter bag in good condition for longer, ensuring the machine continues to extract dust at an optimum rate.  Replenishing scouring bands and cutters as required stopping the user needing to apply ever greater force to the detriment of the motors.  Keeping the compressor topped-up with proper compressor oil.

None of these recommendations are especially clever or controversial.  But, you’d be amazed at the number of times we have attended machinery where these and other easy routines have been ignored to the great detriment of the machine and resulted in both a large repair bill and significant loss of earnings.  For some time now we have offered our “Healthcheck” service whereby one of our engineers calls in to give repair machinery a look over to ensure all is working as safely and efficiently as possible.  This is not a call-out to repair a broken machine, but a preventative measure to hopefully guard against avoidable breakdowns.  The engineer will check the motors, extraction and performance of the machine and produce a report of measurable results.  Further work or parts may be suggested, such as new filter bag, cutters or brushes, but you are not bound to undertake this.  The choice will be yours whether to have any further work undertook.  This work and parts will, of course, be chargeable, and Standard can give you prices before any commencement.

All businesses must balance the pros and cons of expenditure when the machine in question is still working, but it is worth considering just how much your company stands to lose if your finisher is out of action for a couple of days, or even a week!  A well maintained machine will give many more years of effective service, and be healthier to be around for both operator and customer.  And the machine is likely to hold its value better should the decision ever be made to sell the machine or even the business.  For full details of Standard’s “Healthcheck” terms and conditions please click here -

http://www.standardgroup.co.uk/standard-machinery-healthcheck