adammil1
Titanium
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2001
- Location
- New Haven, CT
I was wondering if anyone here had an inside scoop or knowledge of what is going on down at SUN Hydraulics?
2-3 years ago they were one of my favorite companies maybe just shy of McMaster Carr. They have one of the most innovative comprehensive state of the art product lines full of options to choose from that can provide solutions unlike anything else. Back in the good old days you could go to their website select a part that you needed and have it configured built to order and shipped to your plant in 2 weeks. If it was an emergency you would pay double the price and they would get it to you in one day.
We make custom machinery, multi-million dollar machines that our customers count on to work and cost thousands of dollars a day when they break down. For the longest time we were substituting valves that cost $8-9K and required substantial plumbing for a SUN cartidge valve that provided the same performance in 1/10th the space, and could be manifolded in and cost $5-600!
Our customers loved them and the best part about a cartidge valve is they could keep a spare on a shelf (hell even in a desk draw) and if one ever failed or was suspected to fail a 5 min phone call to me, I would suggest they swap out the questionable valve with a spare, and if it worked they were back up and running in 15mins try doing that with any other type of industrial control valve.
For years we swore by them almost religiously. Fast forward to two years later. Almost seemingly overnight they went from their 2 week standard delivery up to 5months on anything custom! Unless you stumble on a valve that a distributor has in stock and most of our valves which require the Viton seals aren't you get the 5month standard lead-time! Anyone know how this has happened or what the heck is going on with them?
Even my distributor can't get a straight story out of them. We are getting screwed with million dollar machines that we can't ship for months waiting on a single $300 valve and SUN couldn't give a damn about our predicament and expedite at any cost!
Only thing I can think of is I hear they have gotten in some new bean counter maybe they are embracing lean or JIT mfg to the worst extreme of idiotic.
If that isn't bad enough it gets worse, we used to have an awesome rep, in our area. The guy was an encyclopedic knowledge bank of how to use SUN's product, it happened to me several times that I was in the field at a customer's facility and had an issue with a valve that wasn't working (or in worse cases was spec'ed out wrong by an engineer who quit and not fully tested. Unfortunately this does sometimes happen in the world of custom machinery. A quick call to this guy at odd times of day and he had a solution ready to go over nighted to me on a verbal promise to get him a PO when I got back to the office. Back in the day we couldn't have ever asked for a better vendor and product line.
2 weeks ago the poor guy suddenly died of what I can only speculate likely was a massive heart attack from having to listen to all of us stranded and furious customers cussing out the once great product line he dedicated so much of his life and passion to selling. (Disclaimer here I don't know for sure if it was a heart attack but at the very least in my last interactions with this guy a week before he died it seemed like SUN's lousy service was taking a heavy toll on him too)
So if anyone from SUN is reading this please get your act together and do it fast! Not only are your once loyal devout customers frantically trying to figure out ways to divest themselves of your terrible service but your terrible deliveries may even be costing good lives!
Anyone out there in the world of cartridge valves care to recommend a better product line?
2-3 years ago they were one of my favorite companies maybe just shy of McMaster Carr. They have one of the most innovative comprehensive state of the art product lines full of options to choose from that can provide solutions unlike anything else. Back in the good old days you could go to their website select a part that you needed and have it configured built to order and shipped to your plant in 2 weeks. If it was an emergency you would pay double the price and they would get it to you in one day.
We make custom machinery, multi-million dollar machines that our customers count on to work and cost thousands of dollars a day when they break down. For the longest time we were substituting valves that cost $8-9K and required substantial plumbing for a SUN cartidge valve that provided the same performance in 1/10th the space, and could be manifolded in and cost $5-600!
Our customers loved them and the best part about a cartidge valve is they could keep a spare on a shelf (hell even in a desk draw) and if one ever failed or was suspected to fail a 5 min phone call to me, I would suggest they swap out the questionable valve with a spare, and if it worked they were back up and running in 15mins try doing that with any other type of industrial control valve.
For years we swore by them almost religiously. Fast forward to two years later. Almost seemingly overnight they went from their 2 week standard delivery up to 5months on anything custom! Unless you stumble on a valve that a distributor has in stock and most of our valves which require the Viton seals aren't you get the 5month standard lead-time! Anyone know how this has happened or what the heck is going on with them?
Even my distributor can't get a straight story out of them. We are getting screwed with million dollar machines that we can't ship for months waiting on a single $300 valve and SUN couldn't give a damn about our predicament and expedite at any cost!
Only thing I can think of is I hear they have gotten in some new bean counter maybe they are embracing lean or JIT mfg to the worst extreme of idiotic.
If that isn't bad enough it gets worse, we used to have an awesome rep, in our area. The guy was an encyclopedic knowledge bank of how to use SUN's product, it happened to me several times that I was in the field at a customer's facility and had an issue with a valve that wasn't working (or in worse cases was spec'ed out wrong by an engineer who quit and not fully tested. Unfortunately this does sometimes happen in the world of custom machinery. A quick call to this guy at odd times of day and he had a solution ready to go over nighted to me on a verbal promise to get him a PO when I got back to the office. Back in the day we couldn't have ever asked for a better vendor and product line.
2 weeks ago the poor guy suddenly died of what I can only speculate likely was a massive heart attack from having to listen to all of us stranded and furious customers cussing out the once great product line he dedicated so much of his life and passion to selling. (Disclaimer here I don't know for sure if it was a heart attack but at the very least in my last interactions with this guy a week before he died it seemed like SUN's lousy service was taking a heavy toll on him too)
So if anyone from SUN is reading this please get your act together and do it fast! Not only are your once loyal devout customers frantically trying to figure out ways to divest themselves of your terrible service but your terrible deliveries may even be costing good lives!
Anyone out there in the world of cartridge valves care to recommend a better product line?