Commercial Restroom Reflections: The Importance of Parts with Adam Kupec

A manufacturer’s products are only as good as the parts that compose them. That’s the mantra that Sloan has adopted, and Adam Kupec is at the center of it. Working as Sloan’s Manager of National Specialty Accounts for over two years, Kupec focuses on growing the company’s parts segment to ensure that Sloan has the necessary parts that distributors demand, while also providing the proper parts for the end user’s preventative maintenance.

Sloan is globally recognized for its products’ performance. Yet, behind the scenes, is it ultimately Sloan’s best-in-class parts that make the products function so successfully?
Absolutely. We feature the highest quality parts, and they’re specifically designed to be used within Sloan products. There's a lot of overlap in terms of different branded parts, and even non-branded parts, that are compatible with Sloan products. But, if you want Sloan products to have longevity and operate with the expected quality, Sloan OEM parts are a necessity. Those parts have been manufactured to the highest quality and specifically for use within Sloan’s products.

How important is proactive maintenance in relation to product performance?
Regularly maintaining your products is critical for longevity. Using Sloan genuine parts with Sloan products certainly helps prolong the life of those products, and also helps ensure that these products are maintained on a regular basis. Sloan recently published a new Parts Brochure that includes a maintenance guide which outlines typical usage—either in terms of flushes or average life span—for a number of these components.

Product lifespans can vary based on water quality and different restroom environments. Our brochure acts as a general maintenance guide to help our customers assemble a maintenance plan that helps ensure that they're proactively maintaining these products rather than waiting for a failure that leaves them scrambling for a fix.

Is there a way to indicate when a product’s life cycle may be due for maintenance?
Different components have different lifespans, so it's going to vary. There is no exact formula or number of flushes because there are so many different conditions in which these products are used. Part of what we're trying to focus on is educating end-users that there is regular maintenance involved in every product they install, just with different timelines.

Our parts brochure is essentially a roadmap to proactively stay ahead of these maintenance indicators for Sloan faucets and flushometers. For example, if a product gets a certain amount of usage as listed on the brochure, it's probably about time to undergo maintenance with repair parts. Sloan tune-up kits also include a variety of maintenance essentials all in one single resource in order to avoid going in and changing out individual items at varying times.

How is Sloan’s brochure simplifying maintenance for the end user?
If you want installed products to continue to operate optimally and as expected, they have to be maintained on a regular basis. Each product has certain components or parts inside of them that, based on usage, water quality, and other factors, are going to determine how frequently you need to replace or maintain the product.

Sloan has done a great job of proactively working with end users to ensure they have all the parts they need. Yet, as we continue to grow as the market share leader, it’s important to put a bigger focus on maintenance and repair parts and make it as easy as possible for Sloan customers to identify what components they need based on what Sloan products they have in their facilities.

Our brochure does just that.  Additionally, it also serves as a vehicle for our distribution partners to easily show customers exactly what they’re buying. Not only does it help the customer know exactly what the parts look like, but also it helps them understand the life cycle of a product.

This is the 10th edition in a series of Q&A segments with Sloan product line managers for their take on where the commercial restroom has been, what it’s evolved to now, and where it’s going.