Peace of mind in a package: Laura’s super service team turbo-boosts production uptime

For service manager Laura Maravigna at Food & Pharma Adriatic, this relationship-building is the key to unlocking success, with frequent contact and maintenance visits ensuring that if the time comes to tackle an urgent production issue, all the focus is on resolving that to minimize production downtime. 

“We engage with our customers all of the time, we get to know them and understand their challenges,” Laura says. “From our side, we are very open in explaining what we can and cannot do as a service team, and from the customer, we need them to be very transparent and clear about how they are using a machine – whether they have changed the processes or increased the number of hours that it is being used, for instance. 

“Once you have that relationship based on openness and trust, then we can optimize their equipment, and if an issue arises, you can tackle it straight away, without the need for bureaucracy and form-filling. We already understand them and how they use the machine, and we can set about getting production up and running again.” 

Alfa Laval’s service offering provides an all-in-one care for equipment with scheduled preventive maintenance, on-site inspections and condition checks, fast troubleshooting and repair, replacement of worn or damaged parts and clear service reports with next-step recommendations. 

And the dedication and expertise of colleagues like Laura ensure that Alfa Laval offers the personal touch when it comes to delivering this for its customers, even as a global processing solutions provider. 

Working in the field of food and pharmaceuticals, Laura is often dealing with separation technology such as decanters and centrifuges, and any unnecessary extensions to unexpected downtimes can be costly. 

“We work through service agreements, and in order to ensure a smooth process with our work, I try to put as many things as possible into the box of tools that make up that agreement,” she explains.  

“It means that our service offering to the customer is as wide as possible so that if it comes to an emergency, we don’t need to ask questions and work out costs – we jump straight to fixing the problem. 

“Our agreements are not just about fulfilling guidelines; they are about focusing on what the customer needs, and for many of them, we have a programme of works scheduled as part of their equipment maintenance. What we offer is a swift and efficient service that leads to more uptime and saved costs.” 

Laura, who has been with Alfa Laval since 2015, says that she has seen up close some of the negative consequences when customers do not take up a service agreement and instead pay for one-off pieces of remedial work, which is more expensive, or prefer to use a low-cost local provider or even carry out the work themselves. 

“Sometimes our words are not persuasive enough, and the customer has to find out the hard way, although it can be an expensive lesson to learn in terms of lost production,” says Laura. “In the end, it is a false economy, and often we have to undo the work that has been done by the local provider because it is damaging to the machine.  

“After this experience, customers generally come back to us and enter into a service agreement because they understand the difference it makes, and they really want that peace of mind, having been bitten once.” 

Working across a region that covers Italy, Greece, Israel, and Malta, the challenges that Laura’s team tackles can be varied. Greece, for example, is heavily agricultural, while Italy has a stronger industrial base, and in Israel, there is just one service partner, which makes it a different structure to operate compared to Italy, where we have more service partners and a stronger direct coverage. 

One thing that remains constant, though, is the dedication and commitment of the technicians who work with Alfa Laval’s customers. 

“They are a great team,” says Laura. “They work alone, and they are the first people on the scene and the main point of contact with the customer, so they become like friends and part of our customers’ operations. 

“The key to their success is that they do really care, they feel a lot of responsibility in their role, and they are prepared to go the extra mile to make sure that the customer is happy.” 

Developing a relationship built on professional trust and respect, the technicians are able to suggest upgrades and add-ons without this being a ‘hard sell’. There is an understanding that these are being offered because they will genuinely boost performance and will prove to be cost-effective solutions. 

“The customer invests in us, and in our new equipment, and from our point of view, we are all in this together,” says Laura. “They see that we care about the result, and they feel supported and that they are not alone.” 

On top of the commitment and dedication of the service teams comes an unrivalled level of expertise. Laura’s team member in Greece, Ioannis Thanasakis, is not only able to cover Food and Pharma but also all the other Alfa Laval business units and the full portfolio of Alfa Laval equipment. 

“He manages all the applications for all the business units and amazes everyone,” says Laura. “Greece is interesting because it is very similar to southern Italy, with its focus on agriculture. Olive oil, for instance, is very traditional and not really evolving by using industrial methods of production, and our machines are used in a very seasonal way, concentrated into two months.” 

In Italy, meanwhile, there is more industrial processing, which has more investment in it, so there is more innovation that Alfa Laval can support.  

“There is a citrus fruit processor that we help to be very sustainable, and thanks to Alfa Laval’s equipment, everything gets used, including the essential oils from the skin,” says Laura. “They are pioneers like us, and a real opinion leader in the industry, so the fact that they work so closely with us and are happy to sing our praises is very good news and shows that we all want to succeed together.” 

Heading into the future, Laura can see digitalization having more of a role, through technology such as Alfa Laval’s Condition Alert, which monitors equipment and flags any changes in performance well ahead of any potential maintenance downtime. 

“Predictive maintenance is very proactive and has a growing role to play because it brings connectivity and advises about trends and any potential issues long before they happen,” says Laura. “This allows customers to plan and save a lot of time and money.” 

But no matter how far technology advances, for Laura, the foundation for all great service is people, and great service can deliver its own kind of circularity and sustainability, as the strong relationships, great equipment and efficient response mean the customers will keep coming back to Alfa Laval, 

“If they find the right technology with us, and we are good enough in Service, then they will buy from us again, and they will tell others that Alfa Laval is the best, which we are!” says Laura. “Not just for the machine and the technology, but also for long-term care and maintenance. Then there is a knock-on effect as customers understand they are not just being sold a machine, they are being offered a long-term partner who will be with them all the way.”