Life of a Scale Service Technician
Supporting High-Quality Watchmaking
A Demanding Job for a Service Technician
David Schneider, service technician for METTLER TOLEDO Switzerland shares his experience with us in this issue. He is based in Switzerland, a country known for high precision and top quality. His customers in the renowned watchmaking industry demand flawless service, as they supply the world with the most sophisticated products.
I joined METTLER TOLEDO three years ago. Before that, I worked as a technician in logistics. I took care of warehouse equipment, such as forklift trucks and stackers.
Change is a daily routine
Working as a technician in the weighing and measuring business is a diverse job. You see different businesses every day. Sometimes I start in an explosion-proof area in a pharmaceutical company and in the afternoon I calibrate a scale for a luxury watch manufacturer. Each business has its own requirements. New challenges arise every day. You have to think fast and commit to the changing environments.
Swiss market demands high quality
Switzerland is renowned around the world for being a country of high quality and precision. The most sophisticated watches, for example, are produced in the heart of the Swiss Jura Mountains. To service this industry is a very interesting part of my daily life.
Parts weigh less than milligrams
Watches are not only jewels. They are small technology wonders. The finest tools, the smallest parts, and the most expensive raw materials come together to bring these timekeeping pieces to life. Consequently, the requirements for the equipment used in manufacturing are particularly high. Frequently, parts of less than a milligram are manufactured. Such parts must be checked for both quality and quantity. Very accurate counting is essential to the industry.
Weighing for timepieces
A watch manufacturer must know the exact level of inventory of all the parts held for optimal logistics, management of orders, and high uptime. Missing parts would compromise the uptime of a production line. It is also important to validate the completeness of deliveries. Even if small, the parts are made out of expensive raw materials and have a high level of manufacturing value. We must ask: did our supplier send the right amount of parts ordered? In production, we must verify that no parts are lost from one manufacturing step to the next. Efficiency is golden.
Challenging service
For these and all the other customers, I make sure that their purchased equipment stays accurate over time. And I provide them with calibration certificates that demonstrate this fact. Wear and tear, and external factors can lower a scale’s accuracy over time. At a certain point, you cannot be entirely sure that you are still weighing according to your process tolerances. I accompany customers from installation, calibration, initial training, and repair to guarantee accurate results and high uptime throughout the scale’s lifetime. I am their trusted partner.
