When a pumping station fails, the callout to fix it not only costs time and money, it can also hurt your business and brand, says Charlie White, Managing Director of PIMS Group. With decades of experience in servicing water and wastewater pumping stations around the UK, PIMS Group knows the value of regular maintenance, and are also prepared for worst-case scenarios. Read on to find out why Xylem recently acquired PIMS Group, and how it fits in to the Xylem TotalCare portfolio of services.
As a leading global water technology company, Xylem is always looking for ways to help customers solve their water challenges, says Tomas Brannemo, VP Strategy and Aftermarket & Service at Xylem Water Solutions. Xylem recently saw an opportunity to further extend its offering to customers – and help them prevent costly callouts – through the expertise of PIMS Group.
“Xylem’s TotalCare service offering already has a global footprint of service centers and can offer everything from repairs and maintenance to more advanced services like energy audits,” Brannemo says. “The PIMS Group acquisition enables us to focus even more on maintenance, so that we can help our customers keep their plants and equipment running optimally.”
A long-term relationship
Xylem’s acquisition of PIMS Group is the result of a long partnership between the two companies. PIMS Group has been a certified contracting partner to Xylem’s Flygt submersible pump business for more than 10 years.“We’re a pumping solutions and maintenance provider,” says Charlie White, Managing Director of the PIMS Group,“so we have been one of Xylem’s biggest customers in the UK for many years.”
Founded in 1972, PIMS Group provides services for more than 17,000 sites in the UK. Its staff of 120 engineers ensures that customers receive high-quality service wherever they are in the country, and that their equipment is running at its best.
“PIMS Group consists of two divisions, one designs, supplies and commissions new pumping stations, and the other part is our service business,” says White. “We service lots of different products in different markets, including clean water, dirty water, maintenance for sewage treatment systems, and drainage networks.”
Service customers can count on
Though PIMS Group designs and installs pumping stations, its business plan focuses strongly on providing maintenance packages.
“With our service contracts for pumping stations, what we are selling is basically like an insurance policy,” says White. “It’s planned preventative maintenance that gives reliable operation, so like with a car if you service it three or four times a year, that means your car lasts longer, which lowers operating costs and means you shouldn’t break down in the middle of the freeway. When a pump station fails, it’s not just the cost of the repairs that a business needs to consider, but the costs, for example, of closing their operations and inconveniencing the customers, with all the brand damage that potentially involves.”
When customers do call in with emergencies, White says that the PIMS Group has the service systems in place to resolve issues quickly and efficiently.
“From an operational point of view the PIMS Group is quite sophisticated,” he says. “All of our vehicles are tracked through GPS, and all of our engineers are equipped with handheld computers so we know where they are, what they are doing, and how soon their jobs will be done. The system can pinpoint the best, closest engineer to do a job so we can give the customer a reliable estimate of when they will arrive to resolve any problems.”
Enhancing Xylem TotalCare
“With the acquisition of PIMS Group, Xylem will enhance its service offer and capabilities to customers in the UK,” says Tomas Brannemo. “The PIMS Group has an excellent understanding of processes and tools, including IT systems, and the capability to deliver high quality service to the type of equipment we have installed.”
In addition, Xylem plans to take the best practices of PIMS Group to extend Xylem TotalCare on a global scale. “For a rather small maintenance fee,” says Brannemo, “we want our customers to feel secure that their equipment is running optimally and that there is minimal risk of failure. The services of Xylem and PIMS Group complement each other very well and we are looking forward to the opportunities ahead.”