Getting the most out of the machine supplier's helpline

It's 6.40am. The flow wrapper has stopped with an alarm nobody on shift has seen before. Your fitter has tried the obvious and now they're ringing the number on the sticker on the side of the machine.

Hold music. Then a first-line agent who asks for the serial number. The fitter doesn't have it, so they walk back to the machine. Then the agent asks for the software version. Back to the HMI. Then they ask if anyone has tried switching it off and on again. Twenty minutes in, the call ends with a case number and a promise that a technician will ring back.

The helpline isn't the problem. Most supplier helplines know their kit far better than anyone on your site. The trouble is that most sites ring them with nothing ready, and then wait for a callback with the line stood.

Have it all in your hand before you dial

The first five minutes of every helpline call are the same questions. Answer them before they're asked and you jump straight to the useful part.

Keep a card for each machine, taped inside the panel door or saved on the shift phone:

• make, model, serial number and year, copied from the plate
• software or firmware version for the HMI, the PLC and the main drives
• your customer or contract number, and the helpline hours
• the name of anyone at the supplier you've dealt with before

Then for tonight's fault:

• the alarm number and text, exactly as shown, with a photo of the HMI
• what the machine was doing when it stopped
• what's been tried, and what changed after each try
• whether it has done this before, and what fixed it last time

If you have to walk back to the machine to answer a question, the call costs you double. Our post on writing a fault report an engineer can use works just as well for a helpline.

Know what you're paying for

Find out what your contract covers on a quiet afternoon, not at 6.40am. Is the helpline free, or only with a service contract? Is it staffed at night and at weekends, or does a night call go to voicemail? If the maker is abroad, which time zone are they on, and does the out-of-hours line speak English?

Ask what happens after the call, too. If they can't fix it on the phone, how soon can they get an engineer to you, and what does that cost? A supplier that offers "next available" might mean Thursday. If you know that before the night it happens, you can decide in advance who else you'd call. We've covered that choice in the maker's engineer or a local engineer.

Get past first line quickly

First-line agents work from a script. That's fine for simple faults. For anything else, you want the person who knows the machine.

Be polite and direct. Give them the whole fault report in one go, then say what you've already ruled out. If they start from the top of the script, tell them which steps are done. If they still can't help, ask to speak to second line or an applications engineer. Ask for a time for the callback, and a direct number if they'll give one.

Always take the case number. If the fault comes back next week, that number gets you back to the same history instead of starting again.

Ask for the stuff you'll need next time

A good helpline call is a chance to fill the gaps in your paperwork. While you have them, ask for:

• the electrical and pneumatic drawings, if you don't have them
• the full alarm list with causes, as well as the one on screen
• the parameter list for the drives, as shipped
• a copy of the current PLC program, if the contract allows it

You have a right to expect some of this. HSE's code of practice for PUWER says manufacturers and suppliers have duties to provide enough information, "including drawings", for safe installation, operation and maintenance. It tells you to check you've been given it (L22, paragraph 115). If the drawings never came with the machine, a helpline call is a good time to ask.

The same code of practice says maintenance instructions should reach the people who maintain the kit (L22, paragraph 116). A manual on a shelf in the engineering office doesn't help a night shift fitter. Our post on machine documentation has a list of what to keep and where.

Write down what they told you

Every helpline fix is knowledge you paid for. Most sites lose it the minute the call ends.

PUWER expects the information you give people to include "any conclusions to be drawn from experience in using the work equipment" (regulation 8). The code of practice says you should record those conclusions, or make sure the right people know about them (L22, paragraph 114). So when the helpline says "that alarm means the encoder cable on the infeed has chafed through", write it in the breakdown log, against that machine, with the case number. The next fitter to see it saves an hour.

Don't let the phone do the work

Here's where it goes wrong. The helpline tells your fitter to open the panel and check a voltage, or swap a card, or change a parameter. The fitter has never done it before, but the voice on the phone sounds sure.

The helpline gives advice. The person with their hands in the machine still has to be competent to do the job. HSE's code of practice says maintenance work should only be done by people who are competent to do it (L22, paragraph 79). If the helpline wants a live voltage reading, that's live work, and the Electricity at Work Regulations only allow it when it's unreasonable for the kit to be dead, among other tests (regulation 14). A helpline agent in another country can't judge that for you.

So if the fix needs skills your shift doesn't have, say so on the call. Then ring someone who has them.

When the answer is "we'll send someone"

Sometimes the helpline does its job well and the answer is still an engineer on site. That's the moment to know your cost per hour of downtime. If the supplier can be there Thursday and the line earns its keep by the hour, a local engineer who can come today may be far cheaper, even if they don't know the machine as well.

We think most sites should treat the helpline as the first call, never the only one. Know who your second call is before the line stops.

What to do on Monday

1. Make a helpline card for your five worst machines: plate details, software versions, contract number, helpline hours.
2. Find out what each supplier's contract covers at night and at weekends, and how soon they can send an engineer.
3. Add a "helpline case number and advice" line to your breakdown log.
4. Decide who you'd call when the helpline can't send anyone today.

* Paragraph numbers refer to L22, fourth edition (2014, amended 2018). Check HSE's PUWER code of practice for the latest.