The word “hack” has undergone some expansion in its meaning over the past decade or so. Originally, a hacker was someone who gained unauthorized access to a computer system. The word started being used by self-help speakers and business speakers to mean something little-known or seldom practiced that you can do to improve your life or job performance in some way. Now it seems every expert has a hack or two that can improve outcomes. Why leave maintenance out of the hack revolution?
- Hack No 1: Automate. Look at ways you can replace manual tasks with automation. For example, power monitors are much better than scheduled power analysis testing (or, as is usually the case, just voltage measurements). Power monitors not only reduce labor, data loss, and error rates, they also work around the clock. Power-quality problems are often the root causes of failures, and they typically are not discovered until many failures have occurred. A power monitor can catch those problems before the failures occur.
What other examples of automation can help your maintenance go from good to great? Infrared, ultrasonic, vibration — there’s a huge list.
- Hack No. 2: Document. Anything that undergoes maintenance work should be fully documented as to its as-found condition before any adjustments are made. Today, photo documentation is easy due to the ubiquity of cameras. Document anything unusual, suspect, questionable, or clearly wrong. Once the as-founds are documented, proceed with the work and document it as you go. Why does this part need to be replaced? What settings are you changing, by how much, and why? What is this problem you ran into and how are you addressing it? Finally, document the as-left condition.
- Hack No. 3: Organize and optimize. The workshops of master craftsmen tend to look like medical operating rooms. They are clean, uncluttered, highly functional, and arranged for efficiency. This is how your maintenance shop needs to be if you want to have superior performance. The same goes for tool bags, maintenance carts, and supply lockers. In what ways can you optimize the working space in the shop?
For example, if a particular bench test always requires an extension cord, install a receptacle to eliminate the need. Do you have too many benches crowding the area? Replace a few of them with folding work tables (originally designed for construction sites, but also popular with DIY types who have limited space at home).
- Hack No. 4: Upgrade tools and equipment wherever some advantage exists. Do you have a 10-year-old pair of wire strippers? Compare them to the newer, self-adjusting versions of this essential tool and you will see why the old ones need to be replaced. With power tools, hand tools, test equipment, and even wiring methods, the degree of innovation over the past few years has been mind-blowing. Even just a few upgrades can produce massive gains in efficiency, safety, and work quality.
- Hack No. 5: Recruit operations people. If you want to understand the context of what’s going on with the equipment, observe the operators and also talk with them. Have them show you what they are doing. Cases of “operator error” are more common than many people think. A new operator may get on-the-job training from someone who got get on-the-job training from someone and so on, until the way the equipment is used is simply wrong and damage is inevitable. You may have to consult the operating manual or send the manufacturer a video and ask if it is how the machine is intended to be operated.
And it’s not just operation errors. Even more often, operators can point out undiscovered flaws in equipment design or condition and provide great ideas on how to address those. Instead of trying to be the smartest guy in the room, make a point of learning from others.
- Hack No. 6: Diagnose deeply. Suppose a robotic welder won’t run because the main drive motor has failed. Replacing the motor solves that problem, but it does not solve why the motor failed. Suppose you discover its windings are covered in grease. Now you know why it failed, but not why the windings were covered in grease. Next you go to the PM records and see Fred did the last motor lube. You talk with him and find out he didn’t know anything about a grease plug.
Simply telling Fred how to lubricate the motor still does not solve the problem. Perhaps it will occur again when Earl shows up with a grease gun. Why didn’t Fred know how to properly grease the motor? Because he wasn’t trained. Now you are getting close; there’s a training problem. But you still have to ask why anybody is being assigned work they are not trained to do. And at last, you get to the real cause. The line stopped because of a management failure. That’s the failure that needs to be fixed. Only a deep diagnosis will reveal something like this.
