Experienced manufacturers can be effective tutors: Consider selecting the best qualified from among them and make them your technology providers.
Involve those technology providers in presenting well-structured half-day (or longer) seminars at your facility, and find ways to pack the meeting rooms with employees who welcome the opportunity to be tutored by the manufacturers’ experts. Don’t let the sessions devolve into “Lunch and Learn” events for folks who are only interested in a free meal.
Well-structured sessions elevate all parties to higher levels of competence and performance. An efficient professional is resourceful. He or she works intelligently and is not inclined to simply work long hours. Entry-level professionals learn from highly experienced presenters. Mid-level employees have their perceptions sharpened and their questions answered. The technology provider company obtains valuable user feedback.
An efficient professional who is always asked to work more than 42 hours/week is an overloaded professional. There is also the occasional inefficient co-worker who persistently requires much more than 42 hours/week to complete assigned jobs. Such workers should seek to be taught (or tutored) to improve their work efficiency, or else consider accepting reassignment to job functions requiring less skill (and a lower salary). This would enable them to join the ranks of those who spend their 42/week productively.
A reliability manager’s role includes auditing the in-house seminars presented by manufacturer, i.e., technology providers. Among other things, the manager should ascertain that the information and knowledge transfer from presenter to employees is always well structured.
In an in-house seminar at a process plant, the presenter would describe and teach underlying or prevailing principles of, say, a fluid machine or critical subassembly. Topics, accordingly, would include mechanical seals, bearings, steam traps, reciprocating compressor valves, and many other important or failure-prone parts.
The chosen technology providers that conduct these types of seminars should be encouraged to present comparisons between their products and those offered by the competition. Failure statistics should be trended and analyzed, failure avoidance should be taught, and upgrade options should be disclosed.TRR
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Heinz Bloch’s long professional career included assignments as Exxon Chemical’s Regional Machinery Specialist for the United States. A recognized subject-matter-expert on plant equipment and failure avoidance, he is the author of numerous books and articles, and continues to present at technical conferences around the world. Bloch holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and is an ASME Life Fellow. These days, he’s based near Houston, TX. Email him directly at heinzpbloch@gmail.com.
Tags: reliability, maintenance, training, professional development
