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As a Supervisor for Portland & Western Railroad, Paul Secher is responsible for repairing the equipment used to maintain the company’s railroad tracks. One recent incident involved the failure of a computer in the dashboard on one of company’s two tamper regulators—locomotive-sized machines that form and level train tracks.
Secher disassembled the computer and noticed that the display had gone out. He called the equipment manufacturer in Michigan only to learn that they no longer make nor service that model of computer, which was more than 10 years old. “When I talked to customer service, they suggested I replace the computer with a newer model at a cost of more than $25,000,” he said.
Upon further inspection of the unit, Secher noticed the Planar name on the display. He did an Internet search and to his surprise noticed that Planar’s headquarters were only 50 miles from his location in Salem, Oregon. He called ahead, and then drove the unit to Planar’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. “The guys at Planar looked at it and said they normally wouldn’t work on an outdated unit like this, but they took it, repaired it and I picked it up two days later,” Secher said. “When I asked them about the cost, they said there was no charge.”
Now Secher wishes all manufacturers he deals with could be as responsive as Planar. “I just had a video card go out on that same computer,” he said. “I sent it to the manufacturer in California four weeks ago and they still can’t tell me whether or not they can repair it. I wish Planar would have made that video card.”
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* Portland and Western is a registered trademark of Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
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