Customers of Uster Technologies, a leading high-technology instrument manufacturer of products for quality measurement and certification for the textiles industry, are always supported by its worldwide customer service team, dedicated to giving textiles mills a rapid response, with expert personnel always on hand.

Mehmet’s phone rings, and it is a mill manager on the line, who is worried about his Uster Jossi Vision Shield performance. The call takes about 10 minutes and Mehmet gives some instructions. Shortly afterwards, the customer calls back to report that the cotton cleaning system is now readjusted based on the recommendations and is again performing to his expectations.

Mehmet is Service Manager with Uster Technologies Turkey, and has been with the company for 11 years. He is just one of a global network of 125 people in Uster service centres covering China, India and South-East Asia, Japan, Turkey and surrounding countries, and the Americas. An agency network with another 50-plus staff covers the rest of the world.

All Uster customers have the direct number of their service contact – and are welcome to call any time with queries and problems. Usually, Uster service people can sort things out immediately, over the phone, the company reports. If the issue is more complex, the service team will plan a mill visit.

“Based on the information we have, we will look at several possible options and pack the appropriate spare parts, so that our staff are fully prepared to avoid or minimize any downtime at the mill,” said Kris Suresh, Head of Service based at Uster headquarters in Switzerland. Uster offers service contracts with value added services and support.

A day in the life of Prabakaran

Prabakaran, based in Coimbatore, India, is another member of Uster’s service team. Today, he starts work at 5.30 am, driving to a customer located near Madurai. Two days ago, he was informed about a problem with variations in mic readings in the customer’s Uster HVI 1000.

At the mill, Prabakaran checks out some possible causes of the problem: he carries out gas regulator cleaning, adjusts chamber size and air settings and calibrates the mic module. He tests some reference samples himself and asks the customer to do the same. The values match closely, so Prabakaran hands over the Uster HVI 1000 again. The customer is satisfied, and Prabakaran now writes his work bulletin, has a final discussion and handshake with the mill manager and departs.

This one-day snapshot of an Uster staff member’s work is typical for his average of 150 customer visits per year. This particular trip covered 400 km. A monthly breakdown of all Uster service people’s journeys shows an average of 61,000 km – equivalent to 1.5 times round the world. Total travelling time each month averages 4,600 hours, or more than 190 days and nights.

Beyond expectations

Fixing an issue in a minimum of time is one of three aspects that Usetr Service deals with. Uster staff investigates the cause of the problem and discusses with the customer actions to prevent any similar occurrence. On-site they take some time to train operators to execute the tests optimally and to get the most out of their quality testing and monitoring equipment.

Senthil Kumar, General Manager of Service in Uster India, pointed out: “Customers like to take the chance to discuss application issues with us, and we are always glad to support by sharing our experiences. Often, what starts as a business connection will grow to form strong bonds. Several Uster India Service staff have more than 20 years’ experience – and therefore have built close working relationships over that same time.”

www.uster.com