Customer satisfaction?
Has anybody spoken with purchasers of KDS machines?
Are the customers happy, unhappy?
Any repeat customers?
Do we know what the maintenance schedule and costs are?
I just talked with John at Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers. His words were guarded. He says that the machine is being tested by an outside firm right now to see if the dust problems have been adequately addressed. He seemed happy with everything except the throughput, which was on the order of 2-3 tons per hour, whereas they had been expecting more like 5 tons per hour. He thought that, working together with the engineers (I wasn't sure whether it was FASC engineers or those of the local firm MnVAP hired for testing), they might be able to increase throughput to 4-5 tons/hr. I asked him whether d 2-3 ton/hr would make the machine profitable for MnVAP, and he said that it perhaps might be for some tasks in a more limited capacity. I asked how noisy the thing is, and he said very quiet. I asked how often the chains/bars needed changing, and he replied that they haven't yet run it for long enough to know.
My overall sense is that MnVAP really needs this thing to put out 5 tons per hour for it to be a benefit to their business.
AI
