From the Technicians...

In celebrating our 30^th Anniversary, we will introduce our various departments and share more about our staff. Last week, we talked about our Service Technicians, who work tirelessly to insure everything operates as it should. In keeping with the Service Department, this week we want to share, in their words, what they find rewarding and how they make a difference.

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? Knowing that I have a small part in keeping babies safe.
• How has your job changed/developed since starting at IMS? It’s even more computer based than when I started 11 years ago, more can be done and with the new products coming out it will be very interesting.
• Anything else you want to share? This company is like no other, we keep all kinds of records and pictures to help the customer. We log into every site every month to make sure we are up to date on their information, and are looking at reports every month to see if there are any problems developing. I think most companies install the system and walk away but we pride ourselves on our customer service.

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? The service we provide helping hospitals keep their infants safe.
• How has your job changed/developed since starting at IMS? When I first started, the only method we had for remoting into a customer’s site was through dial up using a modem. And, even though we only had about 60 hospitals in 5 states, it still took two or three of us a week or more to complete all the monthly downloads. Now, almost every account is on some type of a high-speed internet system for remoting in, and we have over 300 hospitals in 11+ states.
• Anything else you want to share? IMS is a great place to work. Probably the best job I’ve ever had.

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? The job satisfaction of completing an install.  It’s a good feeling when an install is done and there is a new working system, where there once was nothing, or a system that didn’t work well. I also enjoy fixing complicated issues especially those that appear to have no solution. But after looking at it and struggling with it, I finally fix the issue. Then I feel like I'm on top of the world.
• Share an experience that something didn’t go as planned on a job or site visit and how we overcame it? The most memorable would be the low frequency noise issue at a hospital in 2010.  I was troubleshooting this issue right after they moved into their new department in a brand-new addition to the hospital.  Everything tested good at 2:00 PM on Friday, so I headed home.  At 4:30 PM the office called and said the customer tested again after I left, and the issue was back.  I turned around and drove back to the customer site. After a long weekend of troubleshooting and testing, the issue was still not resolving.  We eventually moved the customer to the international frequency and it worked! They are still the only customer on the international frequency.  Eventually we did find the source of the noise was an electrical line for the chiller that’s why it was on and off all the time. 
• How has your job changed/developed since starting at IMS? Dramatically, first off, my job has changed.  I was a service tech, installing new systems and performing routine service.  Now I am more of the guru in the Lonworks and Wi-Fi products.  I am not as much involved in the day to day “normal” stuff.

Bob Chenoweth | Service Technician | Covers Missouri & Illinois

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? Finding a resolution to a tough ongoing issue. Additionally developing relationships with site contacts, and how they rely on you for support.
• How has your job changed/developed since starting at IMS? One of the biggest changes has been learning the Wi-Fi system, and with RTLS, it is necessary to stay on top of technology.
• Anything else you want to share? The field tech job is somewhat unique in the amount of windshield time we log, and the adventures of winter travel in Iowa, MN, and ND.  Rain, sleet or snow, the mail must be delivered!

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? Being only four months in, the most rewarding part is being able to learn about new technologies.  That would be on a personal level of course.  Where the customer is concerned, any time they have an issue I’m able to solve for them, their relief once it is solved is very rewarding.
• Share an experience that something didn’t go as planned on a job or site visit and how we fixed it? We had an account where we were intermittently losing power on one leg of the power supply and it appeared to be shorting out.  We spent 8-10 hours trying to determine the cause. To resolve the problem immediately, we added a temporary wire to at least protect their perimeter of the department.  The next day I traveled back there with another technician with more experience to continue troubleshooting.  We found their water system was dripping on the wires and causing it to short. We cut out the bad spot and re-spliced the wires until they were able to pull a new wire.
• Anything else you want us to share? I consider myself lucky to have this job and very grateful they hired me.  Having owners that believe service and sales are equally important has been very refreshing and allows me to feel that what I’m doing day to day is making a difference.

Scott Grabowski | Service Technician | Covers Minnesota, Wisconsin & Iowa

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? I’ve found the most rewarding part of my job to be the actual difference that we make. We directly contribute to the safety of newborns and the peace of mind of the mothers of said newborns. As well as, the safety of all other patients that our various systems protect.
• Anything else you want us to share? I’m very much looking forward to solving more SNAFUs for IMS and becoming the best tech I can be!

• What is the most rewarding part of your job? Installing new systems and working with other techs to find solutions to customer needs.
• What makes me frustrated? Is when I do not know the answer to a problem when a customer needs help.  Help is only a phone call away.
• Anything else you want us to share?  This is the best team I have ever worked with. 

• What is the most rewarding part of your job?  Getting the job done right.
• Share an experience that something didn’t go as planned on a job or site visit and how we fixed it? Go live that happened on Friday that lasted for 15 hours due to a third party that did not pull cables correctly.  We finished the go live that day and customer was very happy.
• How has your job changed/developed since starting at IMS?  From Lonworks, to WIFI to RTLS/Centrak/Impinj. Technology is always changing.

Lee Philpot | Service Technician | Covers Kentucky & Indiana 

• What is the most rewarding part of your job?  The feeling that the work I do is important in the safety of children.
• Share an experience that something didn’t go as planned on a job or site visit and how we fixed it? I arrived on site for a software upgrade and I was informed about issues with tags. Tags were testing as good tags but they did not function properly once on site. We were able to send replacement tags.
• Anything else you want us to share? I am excited about being here and find the work challenging and rewarding.