KEEPING THEM RUNNING with Ro n Cat
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Designing the layout of a workshop is a job that does not come the way of a fleet engineer very frequently. And unfortunately there is one area of planning—that of flexibility—which often gets overlooked.
When I visited the Southern area workshops of Esso Petroleum recently to renew my acquaintance with Mr. H. Williamson, manager of the depot at Aylesbury, I was interested to hear that the original flow-line system laid down had been scrapped. Not that the first thoughts of the company were bad, but because of an influx of new vehicles and a cutting-back of fleet strength caused by increased capacity of individual units, Mr. Williamson found the flow of vehicles through the shops too small to justify the flow line system being used.
Originally it had been thought necessary that axles, gearboxes, engines and other major components should be held as floating stock, so that a vehicle could be stripped and rebuilt with replacement units. The present rate of flow does not warrant carrying large and expensive stocks of reconditioned components, the system now in use being strip, repair and rebuild.
Esso was long-sighted enough not to install expensive machinery for reconditioning units, as all its crankshaft-grinding and the like was contracted out.
Flexibility needs to be built into facilities just as much as into the systems which use them. The lesson of the need to plan for flexibility is one well worth noting.