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Put method in your maintenance

CM's regular contributor, 'Handyman', offers practical advice on selecting men, methods and machines to put a fleet in good shape

JULY 1 and T for Test day is only three months away. Never before has the industry been subjected to such a searching examination as lies ahead. The results of the early tests will make news and will form the new public image of the road transport industry.

While this is important in a general sense what is more important is the personal effect of the test results. When vehicles fail the test it will mean an immediate loss of earnings. Repair bills will have to be met and drivers will stand by unproductively.

Preventive maintenance is essential in future if hauliers are to survive, and transport managers' licences will be in jeopardy if fleets are found unfit. But there is more to preventive • maintenance than the solely physical aspect, it does not consist of just tools and lubricants—it is a matter of method. At Section 178 inquiries up and down the country operators have admitted that they did not have a method, and paid the price.

Three forms of vehicle repair and maintenance schemes are in general use today:— Method A. This is fashionable and consists of little more than mending those items that have failed, fallen off, or simply rusted away. By this method, with nearly new vehicles and a fair amount of luck, the wheels are kept turning and everyone is exceedingly busy, but whether profitably, economically, or even safely is very much in doubt, and is unlikely to satisfy the tester.

Method B. This is by planned approach on known reliable lines, whereby the vehicles are well maintained and mechanical deterioration arrested, thus ensuring that the user has the best possible availability, with reliability and safety. That this form of repair is not of the shoestring variety must be accepted, the benefit being that costs are steady and can be budgeted, and vehicle availability should always be in the region of 93 to 94 per cent. Method C. This is probably the most used method, and is a combination of methods A and B, flexing and fluctuating, very much affected by day-to-day circumstances. ALthough it is based on the right lines, from time to time the planned and desired engineering function can become a catch-as-catch-can affair, needing constant and prodigious efforts to cope. This leaves too much to chance.

Method B makes the most sense, but many will say they cannot afford to have their machines off the road, they do not have spare vehicles, and their equipment must continue to work, that there is neither time nor money for fancy methods. But the fact is, you cannot afford not to have a method and a servicing vehicle. This may sound a rather harsh statement, but let's face it, in general haulage there really is no such thing as a spare vehicle; a servicing vehicle is quite a different thing.

Good or bad trading results revolve to a very large extent around one feature, vehicle availability. But it does mean that to guarantee a set number of vehicles always being ready for service, a scheme must be applied of taking each vehicle out of service for proper maintenance and replacing it with a servicing vehicle.

Earlier, I indicated three forms of vehicle repair, and it must be obvious to all that Method A can never give any guaranteed form of availability. That certain operators have managed to get by via this method for a long time is no yardstick for their future. Whether they have traded successfully in the past or not, today's and tomorrow's transport calls for planned control and nothing less.

Method B will cost money, but it gives control, and control means results. To many, this may appear to be spending money without reason, particularly so when all vehicles are running and appear quite fit. There are some real hard facts in favour of this preventive maintenance scheme.

However, this is not the be-all and end-all. Normal replacement and overhaul must go on at mileage or time intervals. A preventive scheme must be woven into, and become part of scheduled operations.

There is no mystery about preventive maintenance, it hinges around a close, shortperiod inspection that will take into account each change in the rate of wear throughout the vehicle. At the same time adjustments and small part replacements can be made before their failure immobilizes the vehicle, or causes a 2s 6d repair to become a £5 job

the usual end product of neglect.

Inspection must not become just a glance at set, listed items, but must consist of a detailed search taking in points of concealed wear in order to appreciate the internal condition of engine, gearbox, rear axle, etc. The findings in these sections should be recorded. and earmarked for later attention. This forward planning is the whole purpose of inspec tion. The inspection report is an important document and must be properly used.

Why go to great length to prepare a vehicle inspection report which is comprehensive, and then hand the planning responsibility over to a semi-skilled mechanic or fitter, whose appeciation of condition and rate of wear is limited by his lack of experience? If records are to be put to any use, the best skill is called for during and after inspection.

There is no short cut to true preventive maintenance; the inspection which should he coupled to a road test, must be accurate and comprehensive, and the information produced must be used to advantage. The inspection sheet should in fact be a full condition report and on completion that report must be acted upon. This means that the inspection must be backed up by a team ready to deal with the immediate requirements with a top fitter or foreman who will record the general condition of the vehicle and plan its future requirements. This is where the real problems begin and where the drill can become useless, unless tackled vigorously and conscientiously.

The first stage is obviously to select the right people for the initial vehicle inspection. It will be wise to put each potential inspector to work on a test inspection to establish his ability to vet, mentally measure wear and assess damage. At this point the real success or failure is established. Quite apart from what he can see, the inspector must be able to detect symptoms of wear in the engine, diff or gearbox, without actually lifting a lid or Cover.

Does this sound impossible? Let me assure you that it is not—the fully trained fitter or mechanic with natural mechanical ability can achieve accuracy which can stand examination. Therefore in order to tackle true preventive maintenance efficiently the first requirement, the inspector, must be the best man you have who will quickly let you know the worst and not the best about your fleet. This is essential to a planned approach.

While selecting your inspectors, there are one or two points to consider. These inspectors are going to inspect and test vehicle after vehicle in a non-stop flow, and to a man who has lived on variety this might become something of a soul-destroying business leading to inaccuracy. Therefore this duty should be shared week and week about to break the monotony and maintain efficiency.

With the smaller transport unit of, say, 20 vehicles, obviously the inspecting fitter must take a hand in rectification, and in any case he will need to vet and test after rectification. With the larger unit of 80 to 120 vehicles, the repair team will be much larger, and probably fairly union-conscious. The relationship between the inspector and those who must repair and rectify the faults found is an aspect that can upset the scheme unless given full consideration.

Some friction can be expected here, unless mechanics and fitters respect the inspector and accept his findings without question. He must be recognized by the others to be the right man for the job. Having selected the staff with the qualifications needed for inspection, you should upgrade them to chargemen and make them responsible for a team who will both service and test the vehicle.

Obviously, preventive maintenance must not rest solely upon the shoulders of the inspector and his team. The foreman and/or fleet engineer, who may ultimately be named as the licene holder, must lead the scheme and his decision must be final in all matters. Many inspections and services will go through without a hitch, but others will need decisions, and the thoroughness of the inspection will aid these decisions. The right moves can then be made with the minimum dislocation to traffic demands. This raises an important issue, that the man in charge of engineering must keep his opposite number at the traffic desk fully in the picture. For departmental differences cannot play any part in today's transport. Without this road and workshop liaison, the whole drill will fall apart. It is essential and worth any effort to bring about and maintain absolute co-operation.

That this is no easy task is well appreciated and at times may appear an utter impossibility, particularly so between -dedicated types" in opposite departments. Believe me, they are still around----and worth their weight in gold as individuals.

One easy mistake to make when introducing this exercise, with nothing in the way of first-hand knowledge of staff calibre, or true vehicle condition, other than that they are in constant mechanical trouble, is to underestimate the danger of "stopping the job". Where vehicles have enjoyed little more than catch-as-catch-can maintenance, such as described under Method A, slamming on the full preventive exercise as outlined will reveal more defects than can be readily repaired. You will indeed finish up with a long line of vehicles out of service so you must plan the approach.

It is accepted that brakes, lights and steer

ing are the really critical features of vehicli safety, and many hauliers appear to get by these sections are kept in order. ThereforE vehicles can be running and earning mone) day by day, but have a whole range of othei faults—body fractures; loose axles, U bobt! and wheel nuts; cracked springs, movinc frame and spring brackets; loose cab mountings; oil loss from the engine, diff or gearbox and so on. Yet the vehicles will continue tc operate until one or the other of the defective sections gives up the ghost. We have all reac the many sorry stories in COMMERCIAL MOTOR, where Method A has finally caused the Mol people to clamp down, a whole fleet ol vehicles being prohibited.

Let me now deal with the business oapplying preventive maintenance to a reall rough fleet in preparation for T day withou• stopping the job altogether. We have alread obtained the managerial "green light", select. ed our inspectors according to fleet strength and we are now ready to go. This is the poin. where your inspection department can get ir some practice and prove their worth in provid. ing the first and worst picture, which is wha you want.

The inspection may disrupt traffic a little, i. may alarm the engineer also as the listec defects mount up for each vehicle. The engineer may feel like calling a halt and tacklinc, some of the work, but this temptation mus' be resisted—his primary purpose is thorougf inspection. Servicing should go on with ar eye on steering, brakes and lights, but his need at this time is a full and accurate assessment of the condition of the fleet. From this alone can he say that he does in fact know the worst, and prepare his plans for the next step To straightaway start repairing with only hall a picture completed will lead to chaos.

The engineer must accept the fact that the fleet may be in a sorry state, yet operating after a fashion. He will also need to accepi that he will have to put up with this situatior for some while until his plans are complete This is the toughest part of the whole business; it means accepting that there are a number of essentials which must have immediate attention yet there is no visible end product. This is the point of make or break;

once over this hurdle the system is "off the ground-.

Where Method A has operated lack of method has almost certainly gone far beyond the physical aspect; stock control and costings have no doubt suffered. Spares will have been purchased in plenty as items failed, yet may not have been recorded against a vehicle. Time spent on repairs may not have been related to any individual vehicle, so there is no true measure of cost or efficiency. Costs may be known in total but this does not show detailed vehicle 'costs.

Since the improvement we intend to bring about will be aimed at vehicle availability with measurably reduced costs, the first essential is an individual vehicle record system in the simplest form. Obviously a quick reference card index which provides all cost data and technical detail at a glance is desirable. This must be backed up by a labour and material record, and you can do no better than drop a line to the Charnwood Publishing Co. Ltd., Coalville, Leicester, who will have just what you need.

However, vehicle records serve little purpose unless fed with regular, concise information which will feed back important information to be used in future planning. In other words, paperwork must work for you.

It is useless switching on a preventive maintenance drill without the support of a stock of fast moving spares. This does not mean a sudden, large order for two of every. thing—it only needs organization with your local stockist. Provide him with a list of your vehicles for which he carries spares and reach an' agreement that he will hold your faster moving requirements . . . you will find that if you make this move he is most helpful, and a large part of your storage problem is solved.

It is also necessary to examine and overhaul your servicing equipment, seeking out anything that can delay normal service duties. One item that will always earn its keep is a spare gun and power head for your greasing plant. Air line points are known time-savers —do not tie your team down to one line in the service bay. Air can do many jobs apart from greasing and tyre inflation, i.e., drills, impact tools, waste oil scavenge, air brake tests, to mention a few. So provide the air points and several duties can be carried out simultaneously.

With preparations complete as far as possible, the scheme can now go into gear, and at this point it is necessary to let others on the job know precisely what is about to happen.

Of these the drivers head the list. They handle the vehicles you service and repair. They will work them to the limit of their pulling and stopping power, as indeed they must, with today's loads on today's roads. In varying periods of service they will take out of them the power, tune and efficiency first put there by the factory, leaving you the task of putting it all back quickly and economically. And since the drivers spend their working day with the vehicle, they will be the first to notice any change in performance and general behaviour; an early report of any strange symp toms from the driver is vital.

To do this the driver roust be made fully aware of the, exercise and the part he can play. So he must be placed in a position where his reports can reach the engineer without delay, whether at home or away. This calls for the full co-operation of all traffic personnel, and information regarding any defect reported by a driver .should be written down at once and not left to word-of-mouth messages.

A standard form of driver defect report should be adopted and be available at the traffic desk. Not all drivers take kindly to additional paperwork, but they are all interested in performance and safety, and I find their reports are used as much to point out symptoms as they are to fault a vehicle. It is these advance warnings that pay off.

A further point, again on the driving side and with defective communication in mind, applies where trunk services are operated and shunters employed. Quite often trunk vehicles do not call at the depot following a night journey. Instead, where it is more expedient to do so, they may collect the shunter elsewhere in town. He will then at once set about his delivery duties. While this is of considerable advantage on the operating side, it can and does mean that the trunk driver's defect report of a fault or symptom can be lost to the engineer for the day, and place hire in a position where he can neither repair or obtain spares. The vehicle may be able to operate for the duration of shunting, but it can well be unfit to tackle a further trunk run without attention.

Assuming that inspection has been carried out and a condition report made for each vehicle, the next move is to set out these reports in three classes: 1) Serviceable vehicles needing light repair and adjustment only.

21 Vehicles operating, but with near critical features indicated.

3} Vehicles almost unserviceable and due for overhaul or replacement.

Where this initial inspection has brought to light a very "rough" fleet and action to effect repairs, may seem desirable, positive progress must be made with the preventive scheme. Therefore, despite any arguments to the contrary, it is necessary to deal with the good runners first.

Place the Class I vehicles on an immediate programme of short-period inspection, servicing and testing, setting the period between inspections according to the weekly mileage. Vehicles not exceeding 600 miles per week should be programmed at four-weekly intervals. Those exceeding 600 miles, but below 1,200 miles per week, at three-weekly intervals, and trunk vehicles operating over 1,200 miles per week on a two-weekly basis. This may sound a somewhat crippling scheme to the traffic people, but on non-stop trunk, mileages can go as high as 1,800 per week.

In these circumstances quite a numbert:ef points will be in need of genuine attention at fortnightly intervals, i.e., diff and gearbox levels, oil change (if the engine is to be cleanly lubricated, and of course battery attention.

In the normal course of events with a Class I vehicle, the inspector and two men will tackle and clear a vehicle in two hours, but it should be understood that all the listed work must be completed, and this can mean occasions where with the servicing completed, there may still be defects to clear. When this applies, other staff must tackle these defects at a point clear of the inspection and service pit, as the preventive drill once started must go on with other vehicles.

A broken spring, leaking air unit, oil seal weeping, or damage to wings, body, cab, etc, must be tackled and cleared separately, although the inspector must finally pass the repairs made. It is of no value to the engineer or the traffic head to panic at this stage and to be persuaded to "skip" certain items until

later, as there will not be any "later-. The single-minded purpose at this juncture must

be to bring all the good runners right up to scratch, and keep them there by short-period inspection, service-attention, repair and test, thus ensuring that little will fall apart between the programmed periods.

This situation cannot be brought about overnight; instead, one by one the vehicles will he brought up to the required standard of efficiency and added to those on the full preventive maintenance programme.