Is it just me?

[Wes J]

Some of you guys might be amazed or terrified at plant maintenance for a large factory. I worked briefly as a reliability engineer in a corn processing plant. The levels of scrutiny for any kind of break down or repair were amazing. Every work order and repair was logged in a database. There were 3 full time people who maintained that database and knew how to access it to get history and reports for everything in the plant. Most machines were vibration tested monthly. Once they reached a know level, bearings or whatever were replaced.

Then there was the parts inventory. The place I worked had $20 million in spare parts inventory in a climate controlled warehouse. You can't afford to have two identical plants so you can just switch backup on when the main goes down. So, you have be able to get the main running ASAP.

We had 5 reliability/maintenance engineers, an engineering manager, a planner, maintenance supervisor, 15 full time company day shift mechanics, 5 company swing shift mechanics, and about the same number of contractors. Then there were the welders, electricians, carpenters, millwrights, etc.

Lot's of layers.

 

[thepumpguysc]

LAN, I love your post #20.!!!
KISS.. Quick story.. I was out on a service call when this piece came in..
NO START.. cranked but no start.. Foreman says, pull the pump.. Standar oper. proc. for an idiot..
The pump is pulled, the injectors are pulled.. inj. tested good.. pump is torn down, nothing evident.. put in a kit and calibrate..
Everything goes back on..
STILL wont start..
I get back from a 2 day road trip and see 3 "mechanics" standing around this machine..
I walk over and say whats the problem.. {see above** I say give me a second..
I put a meter on the shut-off solenoid and theres no voltage.. a broken wire..!!! OBVIOUSLY IN SIGHT OF THE CONNECTION to the injection pump..!!
750.00 for the pump O/H... 100.00 each for the injectors.. + the labor.. and I fixed the problem w/ a 5 cent butt connector..
Hence the saying.. Keep it simple, stupid..

 

[kshansen]

Back before everything got computerized I taught my guys a few rules:
1) Start with the simple easy stuff. Batteries, fuses, switches, ground straps, etc.
2) When troubleshooting, work from cheap to spendy.
3) Unless you're SURE, don't take it apart!
4) Just because it's new doesn't mean it's not defective.
5) Before starting to work on a machine, ask the operator questions until he's angry and then ask two more... you might begin to understand what the problem actually is!

There were more but I think I killed those brain cells, lol

And some where in that I would have look at any recent work done on it. Did someone install a new transmission pump and forget to take the plug out of the suction port?

Hate to say how I know about that! Lucky for me I was working alone and realized what had happened in a couple minutes. Problem was it was the suction line on a 988 Cat 87A vintage. Anyone who has had a suction line off that pump knows they are not fun. But at least every thing was nice and clean from the install so I had it apart and back together before anyone showed up to ask how the job was coming! And yes I did tell Sam the plant mechanic and we had a good laugh over it! He was just happy to get the machine back online.

 

[Jim D]

Lan, +1, post 20!

 

[DIYDAVE]

Reminds me of a instance a coupla years ago, I used to wait for the snap on truck, at a friends auto electric shop. He had sold a guy a battery, a couple days prior. Guy shows up with the chevy on a hook, on a tow truck, demanding his money back, or fix his car... We went over, took a look, and I almost lost it, stifling a laugh. Guy had connected the top terminal battery, right over the shrink wrapped battery posts. I just had to walk away, and pop a beer. We both had a real hearty laugh after he had disconnected the terminals, removed the shrink wrap from the posts, and reconnected the terminals...

 

[apetad]

Did the company name have three initials in it only? Just sounds like them to me...

 

[caterpillarmech]

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything my techs do. That day it just didn't sit well as it was not fully troubleshot. I could tell by the way he answered the question that A. I was hacking him off and B I was right, He did a half a@@ed job and was busted. I was not trying to beat the guy up, I just wanted to not have to send another guy on another day down to fix it.

 

[biggav]

Something that annoys me is when is a young mechanic supposed to learn how to operate a machine properly? When you do your apprenticeship you get taught how to move machines around but never really how to operate in a production environment. And who is going to pay for it. Say you are working for the dealer and get sent out to a machine. You look at the problem and hopefully get an understanding of what is going on pretty quick. But what if its one of these intermittant problems that comes and goes. Is the dirt boss or whoever is in charge going to let a relatively inexperienced operator out onto their jobsite to give the machine a proper test? Who pays for the mechanic to drive around for maybe half a day? The Service advisor wants him to hurry up and get to the next job and the dirt boss wants the machine fixed. Unfortunately parts just end up getting thrown at problems and fingers are crossed. Its just one of the problems when everyone wants things done yesterday but dont want to spend money training people properly.