I think this would potentially be beneficial. However, I would be concerned with what they would want from the laser user in return for this service. Or, would they simply make their money by charging the laser manufacturers for their information. Overall, I think such a company could add value to the communication between laser user and manufacturer.

Kelly

Ron,

I know that this would be a tremendous help to lasers in dentistry – if this person is for real and does not have some ulterior motive. years ago, we tried to tell the companies what we needed – we had no idea of the negative reaction we would get. Because the companies would not listen to us when we told them what we needed as clinicians is one of the reasons that we built our own laser. I really hope this works out!

Here is a list of proposed info to gather. Feedback appreciated.

brand
model
Purchase date
Has or will laser payout Yes/No
Training level
Total downtime since purchase
Number of failures since purchase
Last failure mode and date
Last service date
Service performed
Other comments

Thanks for clarifying Ron. I am still at the “what info to gather?” stage and have not given much thought to the reporting and disseminating process yet. The goal is to provide honest feedback to manufacturers without the fear of retaliation. At the same time, we won’t want this to become a forum for bashing or cheerleading companies although all comments will be archived for the manufacturers to review if they so choose.

The first step here is to gather ideas from laser users and potential users about what info they want.

First of all thanks to “Dilbert” and Ron for the proposal. Don’t know who “Dilbert” is but have an idea.

The laser companies already have this information. Logs are kept when technicians go out for a service call, records are kept showing what part has been replaced when, how many have been sent multiple times to a particular doctor, etc. The companies know what is going on in the field.

So, how come they don’t fix ’em? Couple of ideas:

1) Possible that certain components of certain lasers have inherent engineering designs which simply preclude the engineers from fixing the problem. Perhaps the part or mechanism which would correct the situation is patented by another company. Unless the engineers can redesign the laser from the ground up, they may not be able to fix the problem…….which leads to…

2) Maybe its gonna cost the company too much to fix the problem. If the company is publicly traded and needs to keep shareholders happy….well, you get the picture and this certainly isn’t my idea. If you would like to read a simply fascinating exchange, go back to the OFF TOPIC section of this forum and read “Laser Suppliers”.

Anyway, great idea you guys came up with and I’m ready to contribute. I would not mind posting the information on a public forum as I believe it would be more beneficial to dentists using lasers or considering a laser purchase.

Suggest you add a category something like:

Has any particular failure mode occured more than once and if so how many times and what was the mode of failure?

I do not understand the category:

Has or will laser payout Yes/No

Thank you very much,

Al

Swpmn:

>>I do not understand the category:
>>Has or will laser payout Yes/No

I thought it was important to know whether the equipment will pay for itself despite the problems. A manufacturer may think that it is the principal criteria for customer satisfaction when in fact it may not be, so they need to be told that. Users or potential users will also need to know how the frequency of downtime impacts their profitability. Perhaps the wording needs more explanation and I need to ask for more details under the category?

Ok.  Below is the info we want to gather based upon the feedback.  Please go ahead and send your answers via the message icon and I will start compiling the records.

brand
model
Purchase date
Has or will laser pay for itself  Y/N
Training level
Total non-scheduled downtime since purchase
Number of failures since purchase
Last failure mode and date
Last service date
Service performed
Has any particular failure mode repeated and if so how many times and what was the mode of failure?

Other comments

If you happen to have mulitple brands of systems, please make a note in your comments.

We also want to compile data on your flawless lasers so send in reports even if you have had 99.9% uptime.

Thanks for contributing.

(Edited by dilbert at 11:06 pm on June 2, 2003)