> ----------
> From: cxo@madeline.INS.CWRU.Edu
> Sent: Wednesday, March 3, 1999 3:35 PM
> To: Recipients of ABRF List
> Subject: PE biosystems service contracts
>
> Dear ABRFers,
>
> Thank you for communicating. I thought I was the only one out their
> dealing with lengthy call times on PE service contracts. In the past
> three
> years our average response time on alpha contracts has dropped from 48 hrs
> to one week. I waited 3 weeks last February for service on our Procise
> and
> nearly two months for a particular valve block to be built and issued to
> us. I was told we were 65th in the country waiting for this block. Why
> was production allowed to lag so significantly? This year I have has
> significant problems with columns, especially one particular lot number
> even though I was told I was the "only" one having problems. I know from
> responses on the board that is not true.
>
> I have much better response times from both Pharmacia and Biasensor, Inc.
> when it comes to service calls. If PE doesn't think this is going to
> affect instrumentation purchases in the future they need to think again.
>
> My own personal theory is that Core Facilities are given lower priority
> because we do not have the number of contracts and therefore financial
> clout that industries do. I believe industry instruments are
> preferencially serviced over ours when a conflict arises and an engineer
> has to make a decision about who to service first because they know that
> is
> where the big bucks are coming from. Unfortunantly this is a double wammy
> for Core Facilities since we are the most affected by having a downed
> instrument, i.e., we lose customers and potential income from the service
> and we are required to pay top dollar for these service contracts. A down
> 394 at Amgen that has a room full of 394s is not as significant as a down
> 394 in a core lab.
>
> I also have excellent PE service engineers, especially on the protein
> side,
> and I believe they know who they are. I really think the problem is more
> at the management level and how engineers are trained to prioritize and
> interact with their clients. Several engineers have told me they are
> overburdened with calls. In any event PE needs to listen to their
> engineers and their clients to develop a better operational plan because
> our needs are not being met and nobody will pay for less than optimal
> service forever.
>
> C.L. Owens
>
> C.L. Owens
> Molecular Biology Core Laboratory
> W516, School of Medicine
> 2119 Abington Rd.
> Case Western Reserve University
> Cleveland, OH 44106
> Tel: 216-368-6168
> Fax: 216-368-8750
>
>