Buying Equipment: Chapter 18
Today, we will continue from where we left of.Penny wise pound foolish:
I had 3 guys stop in to look at some equipment. One was the owner , the other was the salesman and the third guy was the one who would actually run the machine. I guess you could classify him as the actual machine operator.
The boss man was a real gentleman. He asked a lot of questions...mostly technical questions related to the actual production speeds etc. Plus he took a lot of notes. The sales guy didn't ask too many questions. And the actual production guy didn't say a word.
After our initial meeting , which lasted a few hours, it was decided that the machine operator would come back with actual stock material and we would trial run the material. In addition I would teach the operator the basic fundamentals of the machine. We went back to the warehouse so that the boss-man could take a final look at the machine in question.
I was working on another machine at this time and there were parts laying all over the place. This machine had a whole bunch of score knives. As I disassembled these knives, I would set them on a skid. So the skid had old knife holders and rotary blades laying all over.
I junk these old blades and always put new blades on all the machines I retrofit. A few days later we test ran the machine and showed the operation guy all the ropes. He reported back to the boss-man.
The boss-man and I discussed things and the machine was sold. It was while we were getting the machine ready for shipping that I got a call from the operator. He wanted a few of those old blades. I asked him why he wanted old blades. "Well" he says "when the new blades get dull, I will replace them with these old blades". I didn't say a word, but steam was coming out of my ears.
I picked up the phone and called the boss-man. I asked the boss-man a question. "If you had a brand new car....and it needed a set of tires...would you put on used tires"? He was quite ataken back by this. The boss-man had done his homework and knew what he was buying. He knew how much money this machine would generate for the company. The operator on the other hand had a different "mind-set".
As the owner or the plant manager, you should keep these points in mind. Don't let your $10 dollar-an-hour operator make machine buying decisions for you. By all means pay attention to what the operator has to say....but you make the final decision. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.
