Robotic weld cell - maintenance issues - expertise needed

[rstocum]

My company purchased a Miller PerformArc PA110HW robot welder last year. We would like to get a second one. We run the piss out of the thing. Two shifts a day 4-5 days a week for months on end. When it's operational it's a damn good machine. Naturally, there has been a need for repair & maintenance. This has become a major issue. The supplier is a third party, not Miller. The third party supplier has not been able to provide us with a maintenance schedule, a parts list, or schematic. They tell us that each one of these machines is essentially custom built. Even within the same model, they are all constructed a little different. The manufacturer does not supply preventive maintenance documentation, parts lists, or schematics for that reason (so they say). The third party supplier tells us that maintenance has to be done by them, and is part of the purchase agreement. I suspect they are being disingenuous, and they don't want to give us information that would allow us to buy parts and do our own repairs/PM because they see that as a revenue loss for them. Is there anyone out there in Cove Land who knows about the manufacture of weld robots in general? Are they all custom built? Is there a knowledge base I can access online to find out about parts and maintenance? Forget about going to the manufacturer, we tried that already. No information/service except from the sales/service provider (which is the third party supplier). It may be that we are simply screwed. If anyone has had, or heard of similar experiences and knows that we are screwed, please tell me.