With the start of 2023 comes the need to refresh and renew. When looking at our site and specifically this Blog I realized I haven’t written anything fresh for a looong while.
We seem to have gotten through the pandemic. We grew during the lock-down. We were able to provide service and repairs to all our loyal clients as well as for new clients that couldn’t get response from their regular service providers.
Despite all the CDC required precautions we did suffer infections. In fact, our entire office staff was infected. Fortunately, not all at the same point in time. All the office staff worked from home at one time or another. Thank God for modern technology. No service or repair call went unanswered or unresolved.
All our techs were able to respond when needed. Service and repair parts were able to be sourced in a mostly timely fashion.
Not everything was smooth sailing, however. We had the highest turnover of service techs in the last 15 years. A couple of our long-time techs were offered wonderful opportunities. We all parted on great terms. A few of them still drop by from time to time and we welcome them.
With the openings we were able to sample several short-term employees that didn’t feel at home in this industry. After all, there is a learning curve that is intense and time consuming. New employees complete on-line training as well as hands-on training in the shop. Months of on-the-job field training under close supervision of our experienced senior technicians is an integral part of our training program.
New technicians must learn compressed air theory, the physics of compressed air as well as the varied mechanical systems of different types of compressors. They must learn reciprocating compressors, rotary screw machines, scroll as well as vane compressors. Add to all that the fact that we do more vacuum business than any compressor house in Southern California. Vacuum is an entire field in and of itself. Our new technicians must learn reciprocating vacuum pumps, rotary vane, scroll and vane vacuum pumps. Add the learning curve for knowing how refrigerated dryers work as well as desiccant dryers.
Most of the above types of compressors and vacuum pumps are available as lubricated and oil free configurations. Non-lubricated machines provide their own set of variables, operating conditions and requirements. Our technicians must learn all these operating parameters as well.
We are now equipped and staffed to do all refrigerated air dryer repairs in-house. Most air houses are limited to replacing a fan switch or a high temp switch. We can perform compressor changes, leak repair, refrigerant replacement or virtually any other cost-effective repair before having to condemn an existing dryer.
We are still as committed as ever to assuring your business operates as efficiently and as profitably as possible. We still do NOT sell low priced, low quality machines. We do offer a few price-point units but they conform to our quality requirements.
Lessons learned during the Pandemic were many and varied. One very important and valuable lesson is regarding the parts supply chain. Since the supply chain issues have eased a bit we have also learned about frequent price increases due to out-of-control inflation. We have devised a program to combat both these profit-killing issues. We are developing the final touches to offer the program to our service customers.
Thank you,
Ernest L. Havner III