[labnetwork] TEM service contracts

[Gila,Brent P]

Yup, they are expensive.  We have 3 TEMs, 2 FIBs, 4 SEMs, EPMA, ..... 
all on service contracts.  We see a rough rule of thumb across the 
spectrum of vendors (FEI, JEOL, Hitachi, Tescan, Cameca) that the 
service contract is about 10% of the new purchase price.

We have used a 3rd party like Specialty Underwriters to "insure" a few 
of our instruments and if they are able to provide a contract, they will 
provide a 15-17% reduction in contract.  It is some savings, but not the 
huge savings everyone is looking for.  All it takes is one mid column 
replacement ($64k for the parts, not including labor) to realize how 
much the service contracts can save you on a big repair.  We have been 
stressing to our administration that the 10yr cost of ownership needs to 
be considered when making capital equipment purchases and an increase in 
annual budget to cover the service contract after the warranty must be 
factored into the purchase.

The 3rd party insurance is currently the only alternative we know to 
shed some expense.  Track your instrument expenses closely and ask for a 
detailed breakdown of the service received.  You will find a few 
instruments are more robust than others and on those you can move to a 
3rd party insurer or completely forgo the service contract and pay by 
repair.

Or start playing PowerBall... and hope for the best.

Best Regards,
Brent
-- 
Brent P. Gila, PhD.
Associate Director, Research Service Centers
University of Florida
1041 Center Drive
Gainesville, Florida 32611
Tel:352-273-2245,  Fax:352-846-2877
email: bgila at ufl.edu

On 2/8/2024 2:30 AM, Johnson, Michael W wrote:
> *[External Email]*
>
> Does anyone have some statistical information on the costs of TEM 
> annual service contracts?
> I ask because for us, this is the largest cost service contract of any 
> instrument that we have by far.
>
> I assume very few universities are capable of keeping these 
> instruments up and running to spec without a service contract. Am I wrong?
>
> Is anyone capable of keeping these costs below $100k per instrument 
> per year?
>
> Anybody below $50k per year?
>
> If so, I would be very interested to know which instrument 
> manufactures and what strategies are employed to achieve this. We have 
> FEI.
>
> -Michael.
>
> _______________________________________________
> labnetwork mailing list
> labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
> https://mtl.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/labnetwork
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mtl.mit.edu/pipermail/labnetwork/attachments/20240208/bb294d65/attachment.html>