We all face challenges in our day-to-day work—challenges that sometimes really test our skills. But we make it through fairly unscathed. OK, maybe a bit scratched up, bruised, worn out. That’s what we run into quite often in the world of industrial maintenance.
Our world can be very challenging, but often very rewarding, even exciting. That’s especially true when we’re challenged by a really tough head-scratcher. Something like we’ve never seen before. Something that seems very much like solving a puzzle.
I was reminded of that type of “puzzle-solving” situation while going through some of my notes from a few years back. They concerned a conversation I had with two well-seasoned, plant-floor, maintenance technicians. What follows is a digest version of their story. (NOTE: To protect the innocent, I haven’t quoted these guys by name, but use the term “Maintenance Tech” interchangeably to denote their respective remarks.)
ME: What about that “maintenance miracle” experience you had here last week?
MAINTENANCE TECH: We were working the graveyard shift, not exactly our favorite time of day. But, with the regular guys on vacation, we got called in to help out. It turned out to be a dark and stormy night. The thunder was rolling like oil drums down the hillside. The sky was alive with electricity that seemed like stadium lights in strobe mode. It was one of those evenings that only the bravest of souls ventured out.
Just when we settled in for the long haul with the list of work our supervisor had left for us, we got the call. You know the one. The “call!” The call to get somewhere as quickly as possible to figure out what went wrong.
ME: What was your worst fear?
MAINTENANCE TECH: Our worst fear would be a machine that neither of us ever saw before.
ME: That’s a lot of pressure isn’t it?
MAINTENANCE TECH: You know the feeling I’m sure. They’re depending on you to get it up and running. But you might not have a clue what to do. We’ve been there before: Big problem, not much time, gotta’ get the equipment up and running before something else bad happens. Whatever bad is.
So, by the time we made our way across the plant, all the lights started flickering, then went out. But not for long. Of course, that still meant the controllers on machines might have to be re-booted. That’s fairly easy.
ME: Were you pleasantly surprised by what you found?
MAINTENANCE TECH: Well, now we were worried. Our worst fear had materialized before our very eyes. This was the big machine they started installing during the previous month in the new part of the plant. As far as we knew, they were still working on it. In fact, it hadn’t even been turned over to the company, yet. This would be the site’s largest machining center, and neither of us had ever seen it. There was nothing else like it in the plant. Not even close.
ME: Well, given what you two were looking at, how did you proceed?
MAINTENANCE TECH: There we stood: Brand-new machine. No documentation, yet. Not a breath of training on it in the plant. That is, except for the operator training that had been going on for several weeks. And, as we were about to find out, there were very few spare parts to be found anywhere in the building.
ME: So, a new machine. No training or documentation. No experience on similar machines. What did you do next?
MAINTENANCE TECH: Well, we didn’t let the missing stuff slow us down. Our root-cause analysis skills shifted into high gear as we questioned those present: “What exactly is the problem?” “What were you and the machine doing just before you had the problem?”
What really stumped the crowd, though, was when we asked, “Who knows anything about this machine’s control program?” You could have heard a pin drop, if it wasn’t for the thunder outside.
Then, after a slight pause, I heard a faint gasp. Folks were looking at us with that deer-in-the-headlights stare. At that point, the production supervisor puffed up and in a rather loud, threatening voice barked, “That’s why we called maintenance! Who are you guys anyway? You are maintenance, aren’t you?”
Needless to say, it was a long night. No matter what we tried, and we tried a lot, the machine would not start and continue running like it should. As if we knew what “should run” meant.
ME: I guess that was time for a maintenance miracle wasn’t it?
MAINTENANCE TECH: What “miracle” would we expect or hope for? That all maintenance training, documentation, and spare parts be taken care of before a new machine is turned over to production. That truly would be a miracle in our plant.
ME: ‘Nuf said.TRR
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This was somebody else’s story about the expectation and hope for a “maintenance miracle.” I would be interested in hearing about the story in your operations. Please email me at [email protected].
Be sure and include the best way to contact you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Williamson is a long-time contributor to the people-side of the world-class-maintenance and manufacturing body of knowledge across dozens of industry types. His background in maintenance, machine and tool design, and teaching has positioned his work with over 500 companies and plants, facilities, and equipment-oriented organizations. Contact him directly at 512-800-6031 or [email protected].
Tags: reliability, availability, maintenance, training, workforce issues
