CT: What are the key elements in your repair and servicing offering?
Sturm: When it comes to keeping machines operating smoothly, regular maintenance and servicing play a key role.
They help to extend the lifespan of our products and ensure safety. It’s a smart investment because preventative measures improve availability and reduce unexpected downtime. Of course, mandatory annual inspections also needed to be done properly and documented correctly.
Yet in case of an unexpected repair, taking the machine into a workshop isn’t always necessary – or even possible.
That’s where our mobile service partners come in. They provide expert support on-site within the shortest time possible.
To make things even easier, we offer tailor–made service packages – Palfinger Service Contracts – designed to fit different needs. Depending on the package, this can include legally required inspections, regular servicing, repairs, replacement of wear parts, and even product care and cleaning.
Our aim is to provide full transparency regarding operating costs while keeping Palfinger machines in top condition.
With many crane owners facing a skills shortage for service engineers and technicians, it feels like aftersales support from the manufacturer has become more important than ever. Does this fit with your recent experiences? Are your customers becoming increasingly reliant on you as the OEM to repair their cranes?
We see a growing demand for our services. One reason is the shortage of skilled staff, but another key factor is that our lifting solutions are becoming increasingly powerful – especially with the additional solutions and services we provide.
Our service offerings, including lubricants, original spare parts, and digital solutions, significantly enhance the performance, efficiency, and lifetime of our equipment. This is a factor gaining more and more importance for our customers. This makes a strong case for relying on OEM support to keep their cranes operating at peak efficiency.
As a result, we are committed to expanding our service business and aim to double it to 700 million Euros by 2030.
How do you differentiate your repair and refurbishment offering from your competitors? What makes your solutions the best?
93 per cent of unscheduled repairs are completed on the same day – a rate we believe is truly outstanding and not just a matter of chance.
This is made possible by our well-equipped workshops and service partners, who have access to an extensive pool of spare parts. Thanks to this strong infrastructure, most unscheduled repairs can be completed within just a few hours, ensuring that our customers experience minimal downtime and can get back to work as quickly as possible.
How is technology improving crane repair and service activities?
It starts with creating products that are not only great to use but also as easy as possible to repair whenever needed.
We are committed to delivering spare parts for the entire lifecycle, which includes providing a comprehensive service and repair program to maximise their lifespan and reliability.
With our digital solutions, like Palfinger Connected, we are also advancing predictive and preventive services – planned and proactive maintenance based on real-time feedback directly from our machines.
This helps identify potential issues early, reduce downtime, and improve first-time fix rates.
What benefits are there to crane owner to deal directly with the OEM for repairs and refurbishment? How important is it to have ‘boots on the ground’, meaning to operate your own network of mobile engineers?
We believe that customer focus and proximity are key. To ensure rapid response times, we have built a dense network of general representatives and service partners, with around 5,000 service centres in 130 countries.
Having ‘boots on the ground’ is essential, and we achieve this through our carefully selected and highly trained service partners.
We are committed to work with the best partners possible and equip them with the expertise needed to provide top-level support to our customers.
To maintain consistent service quality, we have implemented a comprehensive certification system across our network of manufacturers, general representatives, and ervice partners.
Every day, two Palfinger service partners undergo evaluation based on these standards.
Additionally, we invest 400,000 hours annually in quality assurance and training, with 2,700 participants engaging in programme through the Palfinger University.
This approach ensures that qualified service partners are always available, providing fast, reliable, and expert support when it matters most.
