If neal was kidding, Im pretty sure I was too!
Beach, Even if we assume all good PMs, supplies,talking to customers, if you knock out the top 10-20% we are back to all the varible stuff. like volume, key op availability. These can be all over the place. I dont think you can put a number on it. But if my back was to the wall I would say that a less than 30cpm machine with no connected components whuld not require more than 2 service vists between PMs.
I would be on the case if a machine was higher than this. And as I stated before, there may be nothing you can do about it. I recall a 3532 I installed and had to baby sit it for about 3 weeks. Lines during DF copying. A real and true problem that took a few vists to really fix. The problem after that was that anytime the customer got dirt on the scan glass, they thought it was the same problem.
I knew that their perception was the problem, so for several visits and on arrival I would take the "complaintant" to the machine, show them I understood what they were talking about, then clean the glass and show them it was gone.
As I said, it took a number of vists to convince them. So the first "to PM was about 15 calls. The 2nd to 3rd lasted about 5 mos and was 1 call.
I hope I havent cursed myself by talking about it.
I work almost every Sat anyway, its the only time the phone doesnt ring and I can get things done. No kids at home anymore and if I was home, the wife would see that I really work!
My boss, the owner,on the other hand, spends 7 days a week down here, never takes a vacation or a day off.
I dont think it takes that to be successful, but different strokes...