Recently we had an interesting service story with Dux (producers of hot water systems in New South Wales) where we needed to replace a Robot arm and quick smart. Here is how the story goes.
The Situation
Just before 8am on a Thursday in mid November, Richard Kloe received a phone call from DUX Manufacturing, located in the rural town of Moss Vale in NSW.
They had a terminal problem with the wrist on one of their KUKA robots that had been in service for over 8 years, and production had stopped on a critical production line. They needed help.
Dux’s line had to be put back into service in the shortest time possible. Cameron Fisher, Headland’s KUKA robot specialist began searching for options, ranging from a new wrist, or parts to rebuild their wrist, through to an alternative size robot from Headland’s stock or a fully refurbished model of the same size from Germany.
Action Taken
By the middle of the afternoon, after many discussions with Dux’s maintenance manager as to the most efficient way to get them back into production safely, the decision to airfreight a rebuilt wrist from KUKA in Germany was made. Lisa Smart, Headland’s Spare Parts Administrator began coordinating the purchase and the freight.
Lisa placed the order, and confirmed the despatch with KUKA late in the evening, and then began pre-clearing the shipment through customs, minimising delays.The shipment was tracked, and Lisa kept Dux informed of its progress over the weekend so they knew approximately when to expect the part. Dux then arranged for the right people to be onsite, ready to re-fit the wrist.
With pre-clearance arranged, the wrist arrived in the country midafternoon Monday, and was despatched to Moss Vale, approximately two and a half hours south of Sydney, around then same time as Cameron boarded a flight to Sydney.
The Outcome
By early evening, the wrist had arrived in Moss Vale, while Cameron sat in traffic caused by an accident on the Hume highway.
The Dux maintenance people worked to remove the old wrist, and once Cameron arrived on site the wrist was exchanged in under half an hour, the robot re-calibrated and tested, and the line was back into production by 9pm.
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