Road and workshop
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Manpower, maintenance
and the MoT (38) by Handyman II This article is the last in my series in Nhich I have set out to find workable inswers to current transport repair probems. I have touched upon a manpower ;hortage, the impact of unscheduled repairs on the operator and repairer, and lave indicated that training is vital to all n the industry. To meet MoT standards there is little doubt that every trick of the trade will be needed, and with this in -nind I have examined skills and their Droper application to vehicle repair.
It Is fair to say that few people in aaulage can apply all the points that Pave been discussed, although many aspects are already being used to good effect in the larger organizations. However, we still face several old problems, vehicle maintenance remaining at best a dirty and by no means highly paid job. In fact the reverse could be said, probably because maintenance has always represented expense anyway, and remarks like "Keep it out of the garage for Heaven's sake" are still heard even today. However, the MoT is now sounding the death knell on this viewpoint.
Technically, vehicle maintenance calls for several skills rolled into one, including the ability to diagnose symptoms: this alone lifts the job well above the level of many others where fitters and mechanics are employed. This is also the reason why only one fitter in seven can really be called an all-rounder, capable of working completely without supervision. Thus the man now being sought is by training, experience and natural mechanical ability a highly qualified individual. I have written of the care needed in setting out repair work—this aspect can pay dividends particularly in conditions of staff shortage.
We have heard a great deal of discussion on productivity, the need for an incentive bonus, etc, as a means of extracting sufficient additional output from existing teams. However, the Prices and Incomes Board has put the brake on this, leaving behind a trail of disgruntled repair people, who at this moment are giving something less than before. In the past many attempts have been made to analyse the vehicle repair trade and ar rive at accurate standards of work measurement, but so far with little in the way of reliable data: most of the systems put into practical operation have met the same fate in that no two repair jobs work • out exactly alike from the time aspect. This is because the repairs are made on used equipment which have obstacles to easy strip-out such as wear, rust, corrosion, stretched or seized bolts and rounded nuts. All these make their own contribution to delay, and unfortunately with haste breakages often occur and time is wasted.
Rate fixing, time and motion, incentive bonuses and so on can be applied in the assembly of new and undamaged parts. But when a time is fixed for overhauling the rear bogie of, say, an eight-wheel tanker or tipper, and cash offered for time saved, all too often risks are taken to get inside the target time and claim the bonus. As I have pointed out, varying degrees of skill exist among the skilled grades; also there are safe and unsafe work speeds per individual; to cause them to speed up to qualify for a bonus can have the costly result of further roadside failure.
To sum up: this Manpower, Maintenance and MoT series, I would say that it is a certainty that for some time ahead maintenance will have its hardest battle ever, but it is believed that this will at long last bring about a true and proper recognition for a vital part of road transport that has far too long been con.siderd little better than a necessary evil.