Introducing the Service Layer
Are you an independent coffee technician company? Want to learn more about the Service Layer? Visit https://www.servicelayer.coffee for more information.
Attending SCA’s annual Expo has been something that we try to attend every few years in order to explore new technology, learn about advancements in the coffee world, and to meet up with our peers in the industry. Expo is an enormous gathering of people, companies, products, and ideas from all over the world. The sheer size of the event can be overwhelming, but it has been good for us as it helps to keep our finger on the pulse of the industry.
Although Expo has almost always been about showing off the newest equipment, the latest gadget and the most cutting edge trend in the coffee world, the main focuses of the Expo have centered around three main buying groups: Cafes, Roasters, and Producers. Attending Expo as an equipment technician is productive in that we can explore the new equipment and connect with manufacturers, but learning opportunities for the technician were almost nonexistent. Let’s face it, no one wanted to take the panels off their machine on the showroom floor and explain the tech side of things to us.
This changed a little bit in Portland’s Expo in 2023. There were people walking the showroom floor that were wearing shirts that said “Service Layer,” which caught our attention. We spoke with one of the attendees wearing this shirt, and learned that there was a group of technicians that were beginning to form a “tech network” forum across the world where industry professionals can trade ideas, share solutions, discuss industry trends, and develop a camaraderie that was missing in our field.
Pat Boyt laying the foundation for board-level repairs.
After being invited to join this group, we quickly discovered that we were not alone with many of the complexities, concerns, frustrations, and triumphs that we had experienced in the field. Backorders on parts, common fail issues with certain components, and difficulty getting ahold of tech support for some equipment was actually industry wide and not just something I was experiencing in small-town Ohio. We also came across some of the highest-caliber technicians in the industry who were freely willing to share their ingenious field-fixes, knowledge of in-house manufacture of parts, as well as teaching the complexities of diagnosing machine failures down to a circuit board component level. Our knowledge base expanded exponentially over night.
Over the course of the next year many of the Service Layer technicians in this forum seemed to become good friends, even from across the continent and world. We got to know each other well enough to share business ideas, help with sourcing parts and tools, and have some good laughs over our successes and failures on the job. We also had the opportunity to discuss some of the techniques that would help to make us better technicians, and how great it would be if there was a training program we could attend to learn them.
In the lead up to the Chicago 2024 Expo, one of the Chicago based Service Layer members offered to host technicians in their workshop that week. The SteamVolt crew presented an opportunity to hold a seminar in their space, and invite in an expert to tailor a lecture to our needs. As a community, the Service Layer members decided that Pat Boyt from Washington state would be the perfect match. An offer was made to fly Pat out for the event, and the planning began.
Pat Boyt is somewhat of a legend in the technician community. He has a small import business that focuses on designing and importing “better than” manufacturer standard grinder burrs. Pat understands the complexities of burr geometry, metallurgy, and grinder technology, He uses that knowledge to create solutions that result in longer lasting and higher quality burrs. Further, Pat just happens to have a deep knowledge of circuit board components, and diagnostics and repairs on those boards. This was the main focus of Pat’s lecture at SteamVolt.
Part of the workshop that SteamVolt crew offered to Service Layer technicians.
With Pat on board to teach us the art of circuit board diagnostics and repair, SteamVolt made the ticket purchase first available to our forum members. With seating limited to the workshop space, the tickets quickly sold out among our forum members. When the event was announced to the public, the interest was overwhelming. Although the event could not accommodate the additional interest, it proved that there was a real demand for technician-specific trainings within the coffee world.
The Service Layer began as a way to bring independent technician companies together, and within a year it evolved to become a self-sustaining group that was able to begin planning, funding, and hosting its own lectures that were focused on the needs of its members. All of this was accomplished without influence from vested interests in the coffee industry, and met the exacting requirements of the individual people who make up the Service Layer members.
This event was a big accomplishment for the Service Layer, and the tech community as a whole, but it was just the beginning of what the Service Layer members had planned for Chicago. Our next article will focus on the main attraction for technicians attending Chicago Expo: Remanufacturing a La Marzocco Linea Classic on the show room floor.