Overview

In the past twenty years or so there have been several movements to increase the operator's role in maintaining the equipment they operate. One such movement was called "operator maintenance" and was an attempt to use operators' "free time" to perform some maintenance tasks. I recall instances where operators were asked to demolish dormant piping, maintain steam traps, and turn blinds.

I place the term "free time" in quotes because it is not uncommon to see operators sitting around control rooms, apparently with nothing better to do. In reality, "free time" is more a matter of poor supervision that it is a lack of things needing to be done. It is important to view operators' time as being quite valuable. The alternative to a task that involves the operator in maintenance is not sitting around the control room. The alternative is some valuable operating task. If an operator is allowed to sit doing nothing, he will do so independently, whether additional tasks are identified or not.

Another approach is called Total Productive Maintenance or TPM. Much of the original literature concerning TPM came from experience applying that approach in Japan. Many of the concepts were good, but it seemed that Americans tended to resist the notion that another country could create an approach that was superior to something that was created in America.

Still...