Whether its  off-season maintenance or preventive maintenance, it’s all part of MT’s efforts to . . .

On February 11, 2009 the Boy Scouts of America will begin the final year of its first century. It was founded on February 10, 1910 with the now famous motto – “Be Prepared.” Millions of young men and women have taken that motto to heart and countless businesses have incorporated it into their thinking, whether they realized it was the Boy Scout motto or not.

“At Monroe Tractor (MT),” says Keith Hagenbuch, MT’s Rochester branch product support manager, “we realize its importance and recommend the motto to construction equipment owners and operators as they consider taking advantage of our off-season maintenance program. It’s all about being prepared.”

A growing number of MT customers have come to recognize the importance of being prepared and planning ahead. “It’s a win-win for both our customers and Monroe Tractor,” said Hagenbuch. “It not only makes sense to get equipment into the shop when it’s not being used (during the winter months for pavers for example) and when our shop is a little slower, because it’s slower it also saves money for our customer because we’re able to have lower hourly rates during the off season,” he explained. That can mean saving a lot more than a dollar, too.

The off-season program starts when the asphalt plants shut down, normally in November. Since the program is designed to take advantage of the seasonal down times that contractors experience, it’s understandable that 95 percent of the off-season maintenance centers on pavers. 

Last year Manny Gianuzzi, G & G Seal Coating, Webster, NY, who has been a Monroe Tractor customer for several years, noted that MT “…does all the maintenance on my Leeboy 8500 paver.” While the 8500 is in MT’s shop for the off-season maintenance program, its skilled and experienced technicians go through it from one end to the other . . . evaluating
screeds, conveyors and augers, often finding things the contractor might not otherwise be aware of that, had they broken down on the job, would have meant loosing business every hour or day it was out of service.

That’s more than just “piece of mind.” It eliminates potential headaches as the spring season gets rolling, even before contractors take on their first loads of asphalt. Customers can realize major savings. “Why not drop your machines off at one of our shops? We’ll give pavers, rollers or mills a complete inspection at special off-season pricing,” says Hagenbuch.
Pavers and rollers save 10 percent on labor charges over $1,000; 15 percent on labor charges over $3,000; and 10 percent on paver and roller parts until March 2009.

All service is performed by factory-trained mechanics. Even customers who have mechanics on staff find that MT can do things that they cannot do in their own shops, things like testing hydraulic pressures and checking for worn hoses, for example.

Because the equipment is in the shop during the off-season, MT can fit it into its schedule. Bob McKay, MT service manager, will give the customer a laundry list of “problems” and then help them decide what has to be done and when. For example, if a bushing is a little sloppy, he might tell them that they can get another half-season out of it, if they want to. That helps contractors stretch their maintenance dollars even further.

“More than one contractor has recognized two important things about the program,” says Hagenbuch, “when you have equipment in the off-season program, you have time to get the work done, and we won’t tell you things need to be done just to sell you something. If we find a problem with the paver’s screed for example you can imagine the havoc it could create if the problem was not discovered until the early days of spring. It could be down for maintenance for more than a week. That means lost work, which means lost revenue to our customer,” Hagenbuch concludes.

What if your business really doesn’t have an off-season? What if you run your equipment pretty much year-round? That’s where MT’s preventive maintenance program, “Be Prepared II” if you will, comes into play. According to Hagenbuch, “our preventive maintenance program is about eliminating surprises. And, if that’s not enough incentive, preventive maintenance customers earn a ‘preferred customer’ labor rate as well as the departments extended outlook that helps customers make judgments about potential equipment replacement.”

When any Monroe Tractor customer relies on the MT service department for its preventative maintenance for as little as a year, it’s like buying an insurance policy. “However,” says Hagenbuch, “unlike most insurance, something bad doesn’t have to happen in order for you to win.” In fact, winning with this ‘policy’ begins almost immediately, because to Monroe Tractor it’s all about making certain your equipment is ready when you need it.

Routine maintenance? You bet. However, even more importantly, MT pays attention to things that could mean a problem in the future. Its service department, which services all makes and models of construction equipment and not just the brands MT sells, will keep track of maintenance and service needs and then follow-up with customers to maintain a log of the hours on their machine in order to assure timely and cost effective maintenance and service.

Monroe Tractor’s preventive maintenance program is customized to meet each customer’s needs, so there’s a lot of flexibility built into it. While some contractors may want service maintained to manufacturer’s specs, others may elect to limit service to a more basic level, such as every 250 hours. Regardless, once the contractor “buys into” the preventive maintenance program, the benefits of working with the Monroe Tractor service department immediately become evident.

That means better pricing on parts and service, just for a start. “In addition to keeping track of the hours of operation to assure timely preventive maintenance, whenever the machine is in the shop for maintenance or other work, MT’s trained technicians perform a service evaluation that will keep you aware of other needs such as parts wear, fluid leaks, undercarriage wear, or worn bushing and pins, that if not observed, could lead to unexpected downtime and unneeded costs,” says Hagenbuch.

Now it’s easy to see how Monroe Tractor’s off-season maintenance program and the Boy Scout motto get into this story, isn’t it?

For more information visit www.MonroeTractor.com
or call the Monroe Tractor sales office nearest you:
Henrietta, NY: 585-334-3867; Buffalo, NY: 716-681-7100; or Syracuse, NY: 315-452-0000.

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