What is Heavy Duty and Why It Matters

Hi, my name is Mark Gilmore and I am responsible for technical support for the entire Takumi brand in the US and Mexico.

As we grow the brand, introducing both new and updated models to the US market, I make contact with customers who purchased their Takumi machines as far back as 20 years ago, when the brand was first introduced in America. These customers have a need for parts to keep their machines running. The machines are different sizes and colors and they have a variety of controls and options, but they all have one thing in common: They continue to have value to the user.

What makes a business owner value a machine that was made so long ago and the recent growth in technology should have outdated its usefulness? It is simple really, and sort of old fashioned in this day of cheaper and lighter machines.

If you have visited shops over the last 20 years like I have, you have witnessed this anomaly. Over in a corner sits what appears to be a relic from another time. Covered in oil and dirt, axis’ moving slowly and the spindle grinding away making steel chips thick and blue, it appears it should have been put out to pasture long ago. But it wasn’t, and it is still running.

This is a heavy duty machine.

The owners of these workhorses are always looking for an edge to keep them running. “Can you work on that?” they ask. My answer was always the same.

“Sure, but I don’t know where to get parts. Do you have a source?”

Owners of the types of machines are very fond of them. Emotional as it may appear, this fondness is deep rooted in the knowledge that this machine has made them money. Speak ill of the machine or suggest that it is not worth it to try, and you will offend the practical sensibilities of that hard working shop owner.

If you roll up your sleeves and dive into the diagnoses, you notice the little things that make the difference. Solid construction, proper guarding, copper way oil lines. A machine that took a little more work on the design, a little extra time to build, and resulted in more than a little pride in the result.

Yes, you are going to get dirty, but if you spend time working around this equipment it becomes clear why it is still valued by the shop owner after so many years.

 

It was built to last.