Aftermarket Support: The Hidden Driver of Long-term Value

Investing in heavy-duty lifting or pulling equipment isn’t just about machinery—it’s about confidence that it will last. That confidence depends on what happens after commissioning: how the equipment is maintained, serviced, and supported throughout its life.

Aftermarket Support, while often overlooked, is what converts design intent into predictable, long-term performance. When done right, it keeps assets work-ready, safeguards crews, protects schedules, and controls costs.

This principle underpins Ingersoll Rand’s Care philosophy: a lifecycle approach that sustains performance year after year. In this blog, we will explore what aftermarket support entails and how to unlock its benefits.

Aftermarket support covers every activity after commissioning - from scheduled servicing and condition checks to access to certified parts, technical experts, and audit-ready documentation.

It also includes planned maintenance tailored to duty cycle and operating environments, along with field service and remote guidance. Robust support turns material-handling equipment into a reliable, high-availability asset throughout its life.

Why it matters for lifting and pulling equipment:

In industrial operations, most unplanned downtime stems not from design flaws but from delayed or inconsistent maintenance. A single unscheduled failure can cost three to five times more than a planned overhaul - especially when factoring in production loss, logistics, and safety risks.

To address this, Ingersoll Rand has adopted a condition-based maintenance (CBM) philosophy. By correlating inspection data, service records, and component wear trends, operators can predict when an overhaul is truly due - neither too early nor too late.

This approach extends equipment life, eliminates unnecessary downtime, reduces total maintenance spend, and enables more accurate forecasting of lifecycle costs. However, poor service can still create significant opportunity costs, making the choice of provider critical.

The financial impact of inadequate maintenance often remains underestimated until it reaches the profit and loss statement. In heavy-duty operations, internal data indicate that downtime can cost between $10,000 and $100,000 per day, depending on the application.

Beyond lost production, the knock-on effects include:

• Expedited logistical costs (emergency freight and technician mobilization)
• Secondary component damage requiring replacement
• Extended lead times when local spares are unavailable
• Administrative overhead from unscheduled repairs and documentation gaps

Over time, these indirect costs far exceed the price of a structured maintenance program.

Investing in proactive aftermarket support is therefore one of the most prudent financial decisions an operator can make.

Robust aftermarket support keeps operations running smoothly and efficiently. When maintenance strategies are grounded in real operating conditions and supported by a structured program, operators can achieve:

• Up to 40% reduction in downtime
• 20–25% lower maintenance expenditure
• Up to 30% extension of equipment life

This creates a closed-loop maintenance ecosystem: equipment signals when attention is required, and a capable service structure responds promptly and efficiently on a global scale.

Therefore, we recommend using the following checkpoints to evaluate vendors:

• Documentation and traceability: Serious providers supply a complete documentation pack including material certificates, load-test reports, serial-number traceability, and audit-ready records.
  Warning sign: a generic manual with no evidence of conformity.
• Parts access and compatibility: Reliable agents provide rapid access to the correct, OEM-approved parts tied to your serial numbers.
  Warning sign: unavailable kits or unverified substitutes that increase risk and extend downtime.
• Local expertise and response: Competent vendors offer trained technicians, in-region technical documentation, and multi-channel support with field capability. A local presence shortens outages and enables safer restarts.
  Warning sign: an email-only helpdesk with slow responses and no on-site support.
• Maintenance aligned to duty cycle: Strong support sets planned intervals that match usage and environment, with prepared crews, checklists, and designed access points that cut labor time.
  Warning sign: a purely reactive repair approach that drives outages and raises lifecycle cost.
• Continuity from engineering to field: Robust programs adapt mountings and controls to your layout and use certified partners to overhaul equipment to factory standards, with clear change control.
  Warning sign: no modification path and no certified overhaul capability.

At Ingersoll Rand, we believe reliability is engineered twice: first in the design, and then every time it is serviced. To uphold that standard, we continue to invest in our global service network, certified overhaul processes, and data-driven maintenance tools.

Lifting Care – our structured aftermarket framework for lifting and pulling equipment - is built around three core pillars:

• Uptime Assurance: Proactive maintenance schedules, certified inspections, and global technical support.
• OEM Integrity: Factory-approved overhaul kits and tested assemblies that preserve compliance and safety certification.
• Lifecycle Partnership: Flexible contracts ranging from basic maintenance plans to fully condition-based programs, allowing each customer to select the right balance of control and coverage.

This approach transforms service from a cost center into a value driver. A single, well-timed overhaul under our Lifting Care plan can offset multiple reactive interventions, prevent project delays, and maintain warranty validity.

Unlike reactive service models, Ingersoll Rand Material Handling takes a proactive approach to Aftermarket Support. Our Lifting Care solution combines OEM engineering continuity with condition-based intelligence, ensuring every intervention is both timely and factory-certified.