Part 4. Finding the Sweet Spot

In the last article, I examined the need for welders to have the fundamental training and skills in order to be able to “do the right things, right”. In this article, I highlight the need for “finding the sweet spot” in respect to the amount of detail and information provided to the tradesman.

It is essential to have the appropriate systems, processes and documentation in place when carrying out maintenance activities. However, the best systems and procedures in the world are practically useless if the people who are actually doing the work don’t have the skills or competence to properly carry out the task.

From “Simplifying Mine Maintenance”

"Processes and Systems are essential, especially in large businesses, but with-out the basics of the work being executed well, all of the benefits from the processes and systems are lost"

Work instructions, quality assurance, and procedures will not compensate for lack of competency of the tradesman. I wrote a paper almost 10 years ago now, which highlighted this issue, and in it I explored what compensations can be made for the various constraints and challenges that exist for mine site crack repair welding. For example, it may be possible to use a welding supervisor to improve the repair outcome, but it is impossible to inspect quality into a weld unless the welder actually has the fundamental skill to start with.?

Unfortunately, when faced with apparent problems with quality of work, there is a tendency to provide ever more complicated and detailed work instructions and procedures in order to improve maintenance outcomes. However, it is clear that this actually achieves the opposite.?

“When a process is too complicated, people are less likely to adhere to it.”

Unless there are highly formalised procedures and institutionalised culture for the step-by-step following of a process, such as in the aerospace industry, the reality is that the more data that is provided, the less likely the tradesman is to read it. Let’s face it - many people are unlikely to read a single book in a year, and are unlikely to read anything longer than a tweet or a facebook post. The reality is that there is a large portion of the trades workforce that have limited literacy. Providing a detailed procedure that has many pages of instructions and steps to follow is doomed to failure, especially when there is time pressure to get the job done. People will inherently revert back to “what they know” and past experience and just do that instead. This means that it is necessary to find the sweet spot between too little and too much in order to simplify complicated processes and documentation.

"?….the crucial steps that the tradesman need to take to ensure equipment is dependable can’t be dictated in a CMMS and must be carried out on the job.”?

The key here is to embed the necessary skill, knowledge and experience in the tradesman, so that the documentation only needs to contain simple objectives and necessary reference information (such as torque settings for bolts, preheat for welding, consumable selection etc).?

Therefore, there is a fundamental need to be able to put a competent person on the job. However, I believe that this needs to be taken one step further. The only way to really achieve good outcomes is to ensure that tradesmen have pride in their work, and feel a sense of ownership of the assets they work on. This is going beyond just simple competency, which acts as a minimum benchmark. A sense of craftsmanship is needed. Let the tradesmen hold each other accountable and strive for excellence.?Going even further on this point, real wins are made when tradesmen are empowered with the right tools, time and resources and they are encouraged to prevent problems rather than just fixing them once they are on the work order scope. A simple thing such as blending out a small, shallow crack may prevent hours of time to carry out a weld repair in future.