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Road and workshop

26th July 1968, Page 43
26th July 1968
Page 43
Page 43, 26th July 1968 — Road and workshop
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by Handyman

Manpower maintenance and the MoT (2)

• "Why do my vehicles now fail more frequently and take longer to repair?" This was a question I heard at a recent meeting. And in my opinion it's an expression based on fact that has become increasingly evident over the past four or five years.

Let's split the question down the middle and deal first with Increased defect or failure rate. It's true that vehicle design has altered rather suddenly to take advantage of changed legislation, and there have been inevitable "bugs". They had to be experienced, proven, and removed, and to quote many operators, the extent of all this has been quite astonishing. To this must be added the demands on repair time made by the expected complexities of more compact machinery.

A further aspect has a bearing on the haulier's question, Why more defects these days? The answer can most certainly be provided by the fleet engineer from his daily log of events, and when a gathering of such men arrive at the same single conclusion, there must be something in it. The fleet engineer has seen his machines change almost overnight in speed, power and braking by almost a 50 per cent increase or improvement of each, and equipment is more sophisticated—even the speedo is no longer a simple worm gear, cable and clock.

Today's more critical driver is less inclined to bring home a vehicle with ailing engine, brakes, or odd steering. For example, the old eight-wheeler could in roost instances be trundled home with trouble in these sections, but its modern artic counterpart usually stops where it develops trouble. As with all the new trimmings there is a vastly increased range of defects, often minor in nature but difficult to trace and repair.

So we appear to have quite a tale of woe, which so far has contributed nothing to the matter in hand. However, if our driver has become more critical, especially when one of his tell-tales goes on the "blink", is this good or bad? The point is—he will almost certainly defect his vehicle. Some engineers prefer it this way, rather than have the driver "meddle" or just plough on regardless.

One engineer told me that his drivers are his best insurance these days. To quote him, they will no longer drive "duff" machinery; therefore they provide him with a free early warning system as a result. However, he will admit that this has increased his work, often at overtime rates, so the end product of a more complex machine has without doubt some bearing on increased costs and time out of service.

Nevertheless, whatever way the technical side affects the operator, engineers are now admitting a growing weakness in their department, and this harks back to our reader whose comments sparked off this series. Whereas the defects have grown due to the reasons described, the skilled rminpower has not kept pace with the change. The number of those able to deal with the new range of defects is decreasing, and will continue to do so unless something is done about it,

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