Summary

When it makes better business sense to replace an entire unit instead of fixing it, you know you have quality issues. That’s the problem a Georgia-based table manufacturer was facing in its warranty department, which led to a search for a solution with better craftsmanship.

Introduction

For more than 20 years, a Georgia-based table manufacturer has served as the nation’s largest table-only manufacturer, specializing in unique base designs, top styles, edge options, and metal finishes. With this expansive product offering, it wasn’t a surprise that the manufacturer became an industry go-to for height adjustable desks. But when its director of product development began looking at the logistics of the company’s warranty department, he noticed that from 7 to 10 percent of total sales were being paid out for warranty claims—95 percent of which were related to control boxes. It was time to find a better solution.

“We went through five or six bases from three or four different companies, and they all had mercury switch control boxes that were just so fragile,” shared the director. “They’d break with a simple bump or minor hit, sometimes in shipping to us or to the client, before they even were installed. We’d then ship a replacement and those often would break before they were installed. The whole process resulted in poor customer service—something our brand has never been associated with. We recognized that we needed to find a quality alternative.”

Better Quality Equates to Better Customer Service

For the manufacturer, the quality issues weren’t just related to cost, although the director added that cost was one driving factor. “We offer a tenyear warranty on parts and labor. When these parts break, we have to order the replacements and then install them, often with union labor. When you’re talking about two union engineers in a truck for two hours one way just to fix a simple control box, the numbers add up quickly.”

But more importantly, the manufacturer was worried about its reputation. As the director put it, “We treat our customers like family and want each customer to feel like they are the only one we work with. These warranty issues were not emulating our standards, and we needed a partner who offered a quality product with the same commitment to service that we valued.”

Finding a Quality Alternative

The manufacturer turned to OMT-Veyhl for its expertise in height-adjustable bases. “I’ve tried roughly 30 different base types, and there are certain things you just start to look for,” shared the director. “The most important thing is user interface. The user expects to push a button and for the base to immediately move and to do so seamlessly. With the OMT-Veyhl bases, the product worked exactly how it was intended to, with no delay, loud noises, or difficulty to use. What’s more, the OMT-Veyhl control boxes were constructed from a solid-state material instead of a mercury material, which made them significantly sturdier than the previous models we were using.”

Based on these findings, the manufacturer switched to the OMT-Veyhl bases and saw immediate improvements in quality.

A Dramatic Reduction in Failure Rates

After switching to the OMT-Veyhl bases with solid-state control boxes, the manufacturer noted an immediate reduction in warranty issues. “Whereas I’d see seven or eight warranty claims a month with the previous vendor, with OMT-Veyhl, we’d have maybe one,” shared the director. What’s more, the manufacturer found that it was actually more cost effective to completely replace the old models with a new OMT-Veyhl base than to order the replacement part from the old supplier to fix it. “It’s been two years since we switched to OMT-Veyhl, and we still are servicing more warranties for the previous vendors than we are with OMT-Veyhl bases, which is a testament to how solid these products are built,” explained the director.

Customer Service That Matches Commitment to Quality

At the end of the day, values mean a lot. So when the manufacturer recognized a parallel in values between itself and OMT-Veyhl, the company knew it had made a smart choice. “The whole reason we made this switch was to provide better customer service and to protect our reputation as a company,” said the director. “But with OMT-Veyhl, they’re so much more than a quality product. Their customer service emulates everything we want to embody, and we’ve learned a lot from them. We appreciate having a partner we can not only trust to deliver a quality product, but also treat us with the same customer service and industry expertise we deliver to our customers.”