TEST & MEASURMENT
For many, investment in equipment seems to deliver poor
ROI. This is particularly true in businesses with a lower level
of certifier usage where the fixed purchase cost of a certifier
can be an almost crippling capital expense. Where different
test equipment is being purchased for copper and fibre, it’s
not only the kit bag or van that bears the burden. This also
increases expenditure, while further reducing ROI.
Sharing certifiers
To try and reduce the quantity of certifiers that need to
be purchased, some businesses are attempting to share
them between members of their workforce. So, rather than
equipping each van with a certifier, when a certifier is
needed it’s couriered out to a particular installer at the job
site, usually from a central office location.
While on the surface this may seem to offer a
commercial benefit, in fact, the costs and administration
involved in shipping certifiers to different locations can
be considerable. This is especially true where installers are
working across a large geographical area.
This approach can also cause delays in carrying out and
completing jobs – jobs that require a cable manufacturer
warranty simply can’t be completed without a certifier.
However, sometimes all available certifiers are in use
elsewhere, or the unit takes time to reach the installer on
site. This can prevent installers from being able to carry out
billable work and cause jobs to run for longer than planned.
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Lost and delayed data
Even if an installer conducts the necessary tests for
certification, they sometimes have to send the certifier
back to the office for the data to be transferred. Similarly,
data cable installers going from job to job on the road may
wait days before reaching a location where the Internet
connection is sufficient for uploading the test data. It’s
only once this has been done that a customer can be given
a warranty and the job completed and billed. However,
as the time to complete this process, from testing with a
certifier to invoicing the customer, can be up to two weeks,
these delays are negatively impacting cash flow in many
businesses.
In addition, both of these data sharing scenarios risk
the loss of test data. In the event that test data is lost the
site will need to be visited again for re-testing, resulting in
reduced margins for the job and delaying invoicing further
still. Likewise, neither process enables Technical Managers
to check the job has been done correctly until after the
technician has left the site, which may mean an installer
has to take the time revisiting the site.
Managing unforeseen costs
Some data cable installers are frustrated that support can
be discontinued for certifiers that they’ve only recently
purchased. And with certifiers being such a significant
capital outlay, many businesses are not in a position to
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