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Regardless of whether it’s a home appliance or a centrifugal pump, when you purchase a machine you want to know there’s a professional technician to service it. “Mr. Bill” Knighten clearly understood this when, in 1969, he founded his company based on his reputation with leaders in the gas and oil industry. Fifty years later, Knighten Industries continues to provide exceptional service to its customers, either in the field or within their $2 million fabrication and service center.
“The nice thing about [Knighten Industries] is that, when the customer walks in the door, he knows his equipment is going to be in house,” says Brian Knighten. “It’s not scattered at somebody’s place because they don’t have that luxury. They know they can call and say ‘Hey, I need to come check on this.’ Or we can call them and say, ‘Hey, we have an issue here … you may want to come and take a look at this.’ They come right here; they don’t have to go to somebody else’s shop or anything like that. They get more personal service.”
“I like to call it total service,” adds Mr. Bill, who, at 88 years old, remains very much a part of the company, though he has given day-to-day operations over to his son, Brian. For his part, Brian isn’t one to idle in the corner office.
“If I go talk to somebody new, I hand them my card and say, ‘You can get hold of me 24 hours a day, seven days a week,’” states Brian, who worked in every department of the company, from sweeping floors to field sales, before assuming a management position. “If you have an issue or need something done, whatever, call me. If I’m going to be CEO, it’s not going to be ‘behind-the-desk CEO.’”
Brian says he’s fortunate to have enough good people that he can do what he loves most, which is to participate in active sales calls. “It all comes down to our employees. Business is pretty simple when you hire really good employees.”
The executive-employee bond is never more important than in terms of service, when Knighten Industries’ technicians head into the field to maintain and repair major pieces of heavy equipment that are relied upon to generate millions of dollars’ worth of revenue. Brian explains that the best service always begins with installation.
The process is critical from the start. A new centrifugal pump gets plumbed into place and laser-aligned to within one thousandth of an inch. After initial installation, Brian says, “For the most part these will run maintenance-free for a long time. They normally don’t break down a whole lot.”
That said, regular service, just like in an automobile, requires oil changes to prevent the oil from turning bad and potentially ruining the pump, a piece of equipment with a price tag from $5,000 – $40,000. “It’s really no different from owning a vehicle. You pay a lot of money for it and you want it to last, so you get it serviced regularly as a precaution.”
The positive displacement (PD) pump receives monthly oil service due to the increased number of moving parts. Knighten technicians complete 90-day full service inspections, during which they check the valves, review the pump internally, grease the motors, and check the alignment of the belts. “We want to catch anything before it becomes catastrophic,” Brian explains.
Knighten technicians get called for service concerns every day, though Brian says they usually know what is going on from the diagnosis provided over the phone by the customers.
“We can install an ‘I-alert’ on any piece of rotating equipment, via Bluetooth with an app, so the operator can monitor temperature and vibration to see if something is off with the pump system,” Brian says. This is the cheapest insurance policy – and we are working on some technology to tie into their system and save thousands and thousands of dollars.”
Mr. Bill and Brian Knighten contend it is this after-sale service that sets their company apart. They try to set up a preventative maintenance schedule for all their customers. Should something break down, the company strives to get to the customer within 24 hours. “We get a little upset if our customer calls and says, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen anybody in two days.’ That’s cause for alarm with us; that’s a signal for corrective action right then,” states Brian. “We’re normally there within twenty-four hours. The more people we add to our service department the faster we can get out to customers.”
“Imagine you’re running your automobile twenty-four hours a day,” adds Mr. Bill. “You are going to have some repairs. Most of our work is done in the field and our guys are usually out in the field ten to twelve hours a day.”
Brian explains the service never stops moving, even during the 2014 slowdown. Customers always have to maintain their equipment. “If they’re not moving fluid, it’s costing them money,” he concludes. And that’s why, in the end, it really does come down to having the best service in the industry.
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November 14, 2019 at 08:32AM
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There's Never a Quiet Day for Servicing Pumps at Knighten Industries - The Dallas Morning News
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