It starts as a sad story. One of our colleagues was recently robbed! Thieves broke in his summer house in the south of Sweden. No major damage, but they stole all his garden tools, plus his beloved diesel gen-set.
He told me that when he discovered the robbery, he wanted to cry. Not for the house door that had to be replaced, not for the missing (expensive) lawn mower he had just bought last summer. No, he wanted to cry for that diesel gen-set, for the years of faithful service, for the countless starts at the very first try, for its reasssuring diesel purr, that he feared he would hear no more.
But don’t worry. The story gets better.
Never a man to let a challenge down, our colleague started looking for a replacement gen-set, thinking that he would never find the same model. But surprise! The Spanish gen-set manufacturer Gesan said it could supply another unit with exactly the same configuration – Lombardini one-cylinder diesel, Mecc-Alte generator and Gesan control unit.
This happy ending made me think. In today’s market for diesel engines, we are used to hearing about always higher-performing engines, new technologies to keep fuel consumption and emissions down, billions spent worldwide for research & development projects, a frantic run to offer the best technology that matches respect for the environment with commercially viable operation.
Perhaps we have forgotten that the real market is also ultimately made of cases like this – the man next door who has a gen-set in his basement to keep his house warm when the next blizzard causes a power outage. The little farmer with a ‘vintage’ vineyard tractor that he loves even more than the few barrels of homemade wine he produces (and drinks) every year.
Isn’t it true that success is made of small little things, of daily efforts to never let your customers down?
Our colleague will keep enjoying his diesel “purr” and I am happy to be able to end this story in the most classic way: “and they lived happily ever after.”
