WORKSHOP (
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RGANIZATION a maintenance
!Manic's criticisms
There are Few Cornmercial-vehicle Repair Shops in the Organization of Which There is Not Room
For improvement Practical Suggestions are Offered by a Man who is Well Qualified to Know in What Ways They May be Effected
THE vital link in the chain of personnel necessary for the efficientrunning of a commercial-vehicle fleet is the maintenance mechanic. To be properly qualified he must possess the strength of the blacksmith, the ingenuity of the conjurer and the deftness of the surgeon, and, granted these qualifications, he is, surely, justified in expressing some criticisms.
In too large a number of cases he is housed in a garage entirely unsuitable, probably unclean, and with benches placed haphazard and without regard to their illumination. If there be lights over the benches the likelihood is that they are fixed, when they should be universally adjustable for position.
The pits—indispensable items—are still rarely equipped With benches and, in consequence, much time is lost in climbing out of them and walking to the bench and back. Pits should be built on the deep side to accommodate _mechanics of all statures; a short man can easily put down packing upon which to stand. They should be provided with wall lighting or with damp-proof plug sockets, recessed into the end walls, for inspection-lamp leads. If the fleet contains heavy vehicles, a crane designed for garage use is a necessity.
The Storekeeper's Responsibility.
Tools, such as reamers, braces., drills, taps, dies, jacks, draw-dogs, etc., and apparatus for special work should be kept in the stores and supervised by the storekeeper, so that the mechanics may not waste time and temper in trying to use a tool which requires grinding or adjustment, or which has "had its day." It should also be the duty of the storekeeper to see that all tools are cleaned and returned to the stores after use.
Inspection lamps and their incidentals are subjected to much rough usage, whilst tyre inflators, where these are employed in the shop, are, through misuse and neglect, often responsible for much waste of time. How often one sees a mechanic trying to make a tyre-inflator connection stay on a tyre valve. Accordingly, the stores should be responsible for the maintenance and repair also of these.
Spare magnetos, dynamos and batteries should be kept > in first-class order, and not, as is frequently the case, in a state which renders them serviceable only for a time. The ideal to aim at is to be able to use the spare as a permanent replacement part, and thus to avoid the waste of time involved in subsequently taking it off again to put back the original after overhaul.
The stores should have an adequate supply of all rs32
those parts which experience has shown are repeatedly required for the efficient maintenance of the vehicle. Failure to obtain such parts at the time required kills
the mechanic's enthusiasm to get the job done. Whets he finds the work held up for a part costing, perhaps, a few pence he naturally attributes this to lack of support from his employer.
So soon as a new vehicle is acquired all special tools should be taken over by the stores, and not given to the driver, whose common practice is to lose the appliances one by one. The maker's instruction book should also be handed in, then both the workshop staff and driver can have access to it when required, whilst it is less likely to become damaged or soiled than if it were kept on the vehicle. Most concerns provide their drivers with some form of uniform, and this should be extended to the mechanics, who should receive clean oveialls every Monday morning. Where possible, drivers should be kept to one vehicle, thus their mechanical capabilities may be watched. It is sometimes the driver who requires overhauling, and not the lorry.
Regular inspection of the vehicles, with prompt attention to their requirements, is the only way, to avoid serious breakdowns. The time interval between the inspections should be based on a combination of mileage and tovIrn driving.
A record should be kept of the work done on each vehicle, so that where the reports show that a certain part requires fairly frequent attention some rectification, in the nature of an alteration to its design, may possibly be effected, permanently to avoid further repetition of the trouble by going to the root of the cause.
Vehicles working in large towns, but covering small mileages, often require more attention than do those engaged on long-distance work. Greasing, sump draining and oil-filter cleaning should, where possible, be carried out by one person, and it should be emphasized that over-greasing, besides neglect to grease at all, may have severe consequences; it is, however, the better of the two evils. Vehicles for repair should be handed over by their drivers in a reasonably clean. state, both inside the bonnet and underneath.
Co-operation Between Master and Man.
The maintenance engineer should be a practical man, so that he may appreciate that no two repair jobs, which are apparently identical, will ever be completed in the same time. Co-operation between engineer and mechanic facilitates the task of each.
There is not much that a mechanic has not said about the manufacturer's designer. Many of the improvements incorporated in modern vehicles have led to a marked decrease in their accessibility. In the designer's favour, however, it may be said that the more inaccessible the vehicles become the longer are the intervals between serious trouble.
It is to be regretted that even on a few of the latest chassis oil retainers permit the escape of oil, floorboards cannot be taken up and the removal of wings occupies half a day. The manufacturer should supply in every tool kit all those impossible spanners to fit all those impossibly placed nuts.
It is suggested that, in addition to the usual contents of the vehicle handbook, there should be included details of the experiences of the maker's own maintenance staff. This would be of real service.