EquipmentWorld.com | July 2016
41
M
ost people think
modern construc-
tion equipment is
more reliable. Yet
in the 1950s the
average breakdown rate was about
20 to 25 percent. By the 1990s that
fi gure had risen to 60 percent.
Why, when the equipment was
getting better, were emergency re-
pair rates creeping up decade after
decade?
According to Preston Ingalls,
president and CEO of TBR Strate-
gies, in the 1950s an operator was
expected to be a fair mechanic and
take good care of his machine. A
well-rounded operator back then
knew how to use his eyes and ears
and sense of smell and his ability
to detect unusual vibration to tell
when something was starting to
deteriorate.
Today, says Ingalls, everybody
is specialized. Operators operate
and mechanics take care of the
equipment. Trouble is, the typical
mechanic or service tech may be
responsible for dozens of machines
and may only spend an hour or
two with each one every few
months. That's no substitute for the
kind of care a well trained opera-
tor can provide for a machine he
works with 20 to 40 or more hours
a week.
A properly-trained operator
can detect 70 to 75 percent of all
potential failures, Ingalls says. And
maintenance
|
by Tom Jackson
|
TJackson@randallreilly.com
It is possible to reduce emergency equipment repairs to almost zero.
OPERATOR CARE
PROGRAMS
Don't assume
that all your
operators
know how to
use a grease
gun or where
all the grease
zerks are.
Image:
Pat
Ryan
