Starting in the maintenance field in the mid-1980s was an eye opener for me, to say the least I was very green. The manager of the truss plant could see I had mechanical aptitude and was driven to learn – but he also saw that I had no practical experience about troubleshooting machinery. This seems to be the norm for starting maintenance technicians as there is no course for a Maintenance Technician to learn the ropes. Through those first few years, we had to use Service Techs from Machinery companies to repair and align the machinery – most didn’t explain what they were doing or why they did it, so I just watched everything they did and figured out why. The whole process was fascinating for me and really planted the seed about what job I wanted to do next. So, a service and installation technician I became.
Starting with Spida Machinery as a Service Technician after years of being a Maintenance Manager at a large truss plant in the Midwest gave me a different perspective on how to service a plant. One of the things that all our Techs at Spida Machinery bring to the plant is a willingness to educate the maintenance personnel on our machinery, which includes “what” we are doing and “why” we are doing it. We go into the customer’s plant and it becomes a partnership – we are all part of the same team, techs and maintenance. Interestingly, with machinery becoming more automated, more robotic, and more high tech, our partnership increases. Maintenance deals with the day-to-day and the Service Techs specialize in the high-end products – fine tuning, calibration, installation, software, and maintenance. We each have our niche and we complement each other.
Our service brings confidence to customers who are seeking to improve or expand their production capabilities. As a leader in the industry, Spida Machinery brings decades of experience into the design and functionality of the equipment we manufacture. As the industry changes, we are constantly improving the machinery designs and software to meet the needs of the customer. We work with the customer to layout the lines with safety, material flow, and functionality as guidelines to ensure a successful product.
This leads us to the installation of single machines to complete truss or wall lines. Installations can be done in one of two ways, Supervised or Complete Installation. A Supervised Installation is one Tech leading people supplied by the customer to assemble, level, anchor, and connect control wiring for the equipment. A Complete Installation is multiple techs to layout, assemble, level, anchor, and connect control wiring for the equipment. The Complete Installation will have the least amount of down time for a plant – as each tech knows the system, we have shaved days off the installations for the factory and allowed production to continue or begin in the least amount of time.
After the machinery is set and tested, we supply training on the operation of each piece of equipment in the line. The training always starts with the safe operating of the equipment, for not only the operator but for the surrounding workers as well. Second, we will train the operators on the operation of the equipment and what to look for while running. Third, we will go over the maintenance of each piece of equipment with the maintenance team until they are comfortable. Fourth, we watch the machinery run to see any issues that may arise – when we are sure the machinery and training is to the customer’s satisfaction, we get the sign off and finalize the installation. Within the next week, we will call the customer and check on the operation of the equipment and see if they have any more questions and address them.
We are proud to provide the Machinery, Service, Installation, and Parts for the component manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.