Team Spirit in Maintenance
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THERE can be little doubt that many hundreds of engineers in road transport have benefited considerably by linking up in what is now their representative body, The Institute of Road Transport Engineers. They have been afforded constant opportunities of listening to papers embodying the experience and technical knowledge of numerous experts in every field covered by their work, and have supplemented these by individual questions. They have been able to share their problems with others and have thus frequently found solutions to them which might not otherwise have been obtainable. Supplementing and enlarging upon the knowledge at their command have been the Institute's vehicle panels, to which an increasing number of the more difficult questions concerning particular types of vehicle and special work have been submitted.
The many visits to the works of manufacturers in the chassis, body, accessory and allied spheres, as well as to the maintenance shops of big users, have opened the eyes of those who have participated in them to aspects of production and maintenance hitherto almost a closed book. Happily also, there has developed and been fostered a remarkable esprit de corps, which has been shown by the willing and unstinted service to fellow members given by the many who have been called upon to hold office in the parent centre and those which have been formed in other parts of the country.
Some of the engineers in the higher executive positions recognized the value of the Institute from the first and, indeed, helped in its formation. Others, however, have stood aside waiting, to use a familiar expression, to see how the cat jumped. Now they are coming forward in increasing numbers and some have said how impressed they have been at the quality and interest of the papers read, by the general conduct of the body and the tangible benefits afforded, and the educative value to every class of member.
In other words, road transprirt engineers who are not members are realizing to a growing extent what they are missing, whilst employers, in selecting staff in this field, are becoming increasingly confident of the technical abilities and wider knowledge of those who are in the Institute.