The waste sector operates on thin margins, and nothing erodes those margins faster than equipment failure in a remote location.
When a shredder or compactor stops working, the resulting downtime – which can stretch to weeks waiting for a technician, diagnosis, and replacement parts – becomes a crippling expense.
This industry pain point is the driving force behind an operational overhaul by Tana. The change is being driven from the inside, often by veterans who understand the historical challenges. Bradley Taranto, Tana’s Parts Manager, has stepped into a merged parts and service management role, tasked with transforming the support culture and processes.
“We’re trying to get a lot of processes in place to make sure we’re offering strong customer support. That’s always the goal,” Bradley says.
“We’re aiming to increase our professionalism and the quality of our work.
“We’re focusing on the way the team works, making sure they’re taking photos on the job, checking things, and that we’re only going to go out to a machine once – we don’t want any callbacks.”
Tana’s new focus on increasing professionalism and quality of work extends to internal training, facilitated by packages and technical experts flown in from Finland, as well as formalising contracts with external technicians to ensure national coverage.
Bradley says proper training is paramount for both the technician’s future and the customer’s confidence.
“We want to make sure that every technician can go out to a machine, have the information they need, and be able to fix the customer’s machine on site, on the spot,” he says.
“If we’re going to put on an apprentice, they need to be trained the correct way on how to do things.”
Addressing the customer’s immediate frustration – the speed of spare parts – has been a priority. Bradley says Tana has adjusted stock levels and implemented new processes to achieve rapid turnaround.
This includes weekly air freights from Finland and a plan to place machine-specific parts containers at remote northern Australian sites, each holding up to 5000 hours’ worth of parts.
“We’re now at the point where, if an order is placed before midday, it will be shipped that same day,” Bradley says.
“Waiting two weeks for a part is simply not an option for contractors on a tight schedule.”
The game-changer is the digital twin capability provided by TanaConnect®, a standard feature on all new machines. The online system allows Bradley and his team to remotely diagnose machine issues, even when the compactor is thousands of kilometres away.
“Basically, I can connect to any machine from my computer, and I can watch them pushing the joysticks, I can see the milliamps of the machine, I can see the pump pressures,” he says.
“I can see the whole machine working, take readings and diagnose the machine over the phone. If not, we can organise parts directly related to that issue to be sent out.”
TanaConnect also tracks run times, fuel consumption, and shredder output (tonnage per hour), allowing managers to remotely update software or schedule maintenance based on alarm logs.
Another program, eSpares, offers online ordering and detailed component breakdowns. While it’s currently used by staff, Tana aims to roll out a version for customers, assisting in identifying a broken part and its availability.
This combination of professionalised physical support and leading digital technology offers a compelling value proposition that goes beyond the machine itself.
“Tana machines, technology-wise, are leading the market,” Bradley says.
“It’s all about making the customer’s life so much easier.”
For more information, visit: www.tana.com.au
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