Road and workshop
Page 47
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by Handyman
Manpower, maintenance and the MoT (6)
• We have earmarked a number -of features that will tend to block progress when testing begins, and while certain of them can be overcome, or at least eased of serious impact, the problem of loss of use and the labour to do the job is still to solve. And since there is no off-the-cuff answer to the labour shortage, it will be necessary to consider a change in maintenance methods to counteract the effect in under-staffed workshops.
The first task is to determine where and how your particular maintenance exercise fits in with the drill needed to carry your vehicles through the test, and one thing is becoming increasingly clear: no operator today can possibly afford two separate maintenance exercises of any size, nor can he just trundle on, mending things as they fail and hoping to get by.
Whatever system of repair and maintenance is in being at this time, it must now be shaped and so formed that there is one exercise only, that is, one aimed with two targets in mind: (a) to maintain a fleet that will go through the MoT station successfully and lb) to achieve a system that will present the minimum loss of use to the operator. And this has to be achieved with existing manpower at least for some time to come. So, whether we like systems or not, a system there must be, since we cannot staff up to beat the clock.
Therefore we should turn our attention to the Tester's Manual which is, after all, nothing more than an oversize inspection sheet; and while it is quite shattering when viewed for the first time . by a person not familiar with detailed vehicle inspection, it is in the main a fairly straightforward list of items to be inspected, and one which many of the larger firms have already been dealing with almost in its entirety.
Still, to tackle such a list on a ragged vehicle just ahead of test date would be a frightening task, unless the manpower was there in strength. In the absence of adequate labour, other measures will need to be applied, and without doubt the short-period inspection of the otherwise fit vehicle is now of paramount importance, with the test date ahead firmly in sight. As stated, few operators will be staffed at this time to deal with test preparation in one fell swoop, so the only logical approach is to work towards that end over a period, and in a fashion that will suffice for everyday maintenance at the same time.
Thus it will be necessary to study the Tester's Manual and break its listed items up into groups that can become staged service and inspection periods, with their frequency based on the wear and defect rate of the various vehicle sections. From there it should be possible to stage or space out the work in such a way that the minimum labour and time-out-of-service is required prior to the test.
In an earlier series we described a method of setting out a limited team to deal with a constant round of inspection, rectification, service and test, and now the results of anything we may have established in this direction are to be vetted and put to the test by a really critical third party; and since there will be no satisfactory end result obtained by paying lip service to future inspections, we should now look more closely for ways and means of streamlining each task between now and the first test date. In another article we will see what can be done with the Tester's Manual,