Equipment-Rental Considerations

Rather than abandon a crucial test or fail to do necessary maintenance for lack of required instrumentation, rent what you need.

While summer may still be a few months away, you might be making some vacation plans. That includes thinking about buying, packing up, and transporting all the equipment your family insists it will require for, say, just few days at the beach or lake. Since you probably won’t use and don’t care to store and maintain those specialized items long term, renting can be a good option. The same value proposition holds true in the manufacturing arena when it comes to obtaining instrumentation for your site’s next test or application.

Bruce Lachey, Sound and Rental Program team leader from The Modal Shop (Cincinnati, modalshop.com), offers the following information to help demystify the reasons equipment rental can make sense for your plant.

Right instrumentation at minimal cost. It’s often easy to feel limited by what equipment you have in stock. What, though, if you could have just the right item for your test, but not shell out thousands of dollars to purchase it? Renting or leasing equipment is a practical way to select precisely what you need to fulfill the requirements of an upcoming test with no capital expense attached.

Short-term or one-time application. Have you ever needed equipment for just a month or a week? It doesn’t make sense to buy items in such cases. Rather than abandoning your test or failing to do necessary maintenance in your facility, consider rental. Rental-service providers are well suited to help you in these situations. They have the equipment you need and can help you reach your goals.

Trying before you buy. Have you ever found yourself on the fence about purchasing a product?  Not sure if it will work well in your facility? Rental is a great way to test equipment and obtain real-time feedback from your team on the practicality and usefulness of a specific unit as a solution. Sometimes, rental-service providers will even allow you to apply the rental fees you’ve paid to buy the unit. Just ask.

Cost-of-ownership issues. Looking to simplify your life and work? Rental offers a means to avoid the ongoing maintenance and upkeep associated with equipment you own. A good rental-service provider will offer quality equipment that is up to date on any necessary maintenance. You’ll never have to worry about an oil change, calibration, or cleaning. It’s all taken care of as part of the rental package. EP

The Modal Shop (Cincinnati, modalshop.com) offers structural-vibration and acoustic-sensing systems and services for various applications in design and test laboratories and manufacturing plants. A subsidiary of PCB Piezotronics Inc. (Depew, NY, pcb.com), The Modal Shop is a wholly owned subsidiary of MTS Systems Corp. (Eden Prairie, MN, mts.com).