These are not just empty marketing phrases, but proven facts mirrored in several awards won by the MEIKO service for example. "We are not deterred by adverse weather conditions, narrow time frames, remote locations or high altitude to help our customers,” says Hans-Dieter Breideband, Head of Service International at MEIKO. Help comes promptly: either directly on site or over a telephone hotline. This maxim applies equally to dishwashers or cleaning and disinfection technology such as bedpan washers, for customers with a small glass washer as well as for those who use several large machines with conveyor technology.
In our series "Reports from the MEIKO Service World" we look to MEIKO UK based in Slough, England. There the MEIKO service is lived par excellence:
TRAINING FOR TECHNICAL SERVICE EXCELLENCE
MEIKO warewashing products represent the cutting edge of technology and their sale in the UK is supported by a dedicated technical services team of 47 who are regarded as the very finest in their field. MEIKO UK Technical Services has won unprecedented praise for its customer support including winning the ‘Outstanding Technical Support Award’ from the Technical Conference of CEDA (Catering Equipment Distributors Association). CEDA has also voted MEIKO UK six-time winner of its ‘Outstanding Customer Service Award’ – the only supplier ever to have achieved this.
Customers throughout the UK also praise MEIKO’s technical service support. So, what is special about the team in the UK?
“It is not about who supplies the ‘best dishwasher’, but WHO delivers the best warewashing ‘package’ to the customer,” says MEIKO UK MD Paul Anderson. “The key to our success is continual dedication to improving the quality of our relationships with our direct customers and to the companies which sell on our products, the catering equipment distributors. And the key to those relationships is providing outstanding customer support.”
MEIKO UK’s technical support offer starts with its HQ-based Technical Services Support Desk. Manned seven days per week, 363 days per year, the Desk has a dedicated team answering technical queries from users and from catering equipment distributors. Direct support is available from MEIKO UK’s team of 40+ in-house engineers, who provide a 94% first-time fix rate. To ensure this, all MEIKO UK Technical Service vehicles carry the top 200 parts for front-loading and hood machines and the top 50 parts for the larger rack and flights. Spares can also be delivered before 2 pm next day if ordered before 1 pm.
“A first-time fix rate indicates how a supplier regards its customers and ours is the best in the industry,” says MEIKO UK Technical Services Director Dave Kemp. „The key to maintaining service excellence is that we ensure our Distributor Partners and other third-parties such as oil rig operators also have everything they need to achieve first-time fix. As sales via our partners has increased, MEIKO has also upped its training to ensure customers receive the same high level of support, whether from MEIKO directly or partner distributors. Training is key to what we do and we train distributor’s engineers at our Slough HQ training centre. Technical Services also supports our customers with a range of fixed-price added value options, such as installation, servicing and maintenance. Commissioning is always free to the distributor and is always done by MEIKO’s own engineers to ensure consistent standards. We work extremely hard to communicate these messages to our customers and our distributor partners. Our customer support in this respect was boosted with the introduction of a Marketing Manager who focuses on communicating the comprehensive range of sales support MEIKO has to offer its distributor partners and key customers.”
“We know that MEIKO is quick to attend for technical issues and that the supply of spares is also very fast. That said, any issues are normally fixed first time.”
ROYAL NATIONAL HOTEL, LONDON
Head of Facilities, David Potticary
“What we were especially keen to see from the dishwashing supplier was good support over the long term, in terms of maintenance and spares.”
CANFORD SCHOOL, DORSET
Head of Catering Operations, Jane Giddy
“The tender and evaluation tested the credentials of several suppliers, including their Technical Services support and resulted in our choosing MEIKO.”
CALDERDALE AND HUDDERSFIELD NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
Head of Catering, Andrew Donegan
“MEIKO engineers carry their spares on their vans which means usually, there is no need to order the parts as they can fix the problem then and there. They arrive fast, sometimes even within the hour!”
BENARES, LONDON
Operations Manager, Arnaud Dumas
“I know MEIKO will attend within a couple of hours and that they carry parts on their vans. If anything is going to break down, then MEIKO is the one I want most.”
CHEWTON GLEN HOTEL & SPA, HAMPSHIRE
Executive Head Chef, Luke Matthews
