POST 01258E: REPAIR/NON-REPAIR OF COLD CHAIN EQUIPMENT

POST 01258E: REPAIR/NON-REPAIR OF COLD CHAIN EQUIPMENT 25 APRIL 2008 Follow up on posts: 01257E, 01254E Recent posts on cold chain equipment and maintenance: 01229E, 01227E, 01226E, 01225E, 01221E, 01218, 01216, 01214E ******************************************* The responses, as you can observe, have been varied with Anil Varshney suggesting repair while John Potts finds replacement the more cost-effective strategy.  Terry Hart suggests looking at environmental and other economic criteria before drawing up a policy. I am sure many of you can add to the discussion based on your first-hand experience in the field. Tasnim Partapuri from ImmunizationBasics has also sent in an interesting suggestion to build up TechNet membership¯invite each member to recommend/invite five others to join. Look forward to your participation in building the e-forum! ----------------------- REPAIRS: THE FIRST CHOICE I agree repairs should be the first choice and the logic¯reuse, repair renew must be carried out. Replacement should be in a planned manner. Local technicians should be trained in repair and maintenance. When they can handle the commercial market why not those in public sector? The manufacturer/supplier must ensure that spares are available and that manpower is trained before installing the equipment (the same holds true for all equipment). regards Anil Varshney ([email=anil%20varshney%20%[email protected]%5d]anil%20varshney%20%[email protected]%5d[/email]) ----- CHEAPER AND EASIER TO REPLACE Repair or not to repair. Having been responsible for setting up EPI repair workshop staffed with local technicians in several countries I would agree that it is cheaper and easier to replace failed equipment with new.  Workshops are expensive to set up and run, there is always the problem of spares, transport to and from the workshop. A greater problem is consumables with the necessary regular budget to provide for all facilities. It is surprising the number and diversity of spare pares required. To staff these facilities with technicians with a broad enough knowledge and experience to cover electrics, electronics, welding, brazing, etc. is very difficult. The long term sustainability of an EPI workshop in my experience is nearly impossible. An alternative to new for busted policy is to have a contract with a local Frig/freezer repair company but this in my experience is also fault with problems and difficulties. Regards John Pott ([email=John%20Pott%20%[email protected]%5d]John%20Pott%20%[email protected]%5d[/email]) ------ COLD CHAIN EQUIPMENT POLICY MUST BE BASED ON ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS Dear Contributors, Any policy of repair/discard/replace of cold chain equipment should and must be based upon economic and environmental factors. The capital costs of hardware and repair costs are not an adequate basis for choice of policy. Perhaps it is time to develop a financial model which will include the indirect costs, such as cost of disposal/destruction, costs of transport, environmental costs, costs of reliability/availability and a multitude more. Only then can a policy be adopted. Terry ([email=Terry%20Hart%20%[email protected]%5d]Terry%20Hart%20%[email protected]%5d[/email]) Post generated using Mail2Forum (http://www.mail2forum.com)