MRO Today - A Hero’s Badge

R.T. "Chris" Christensen A Hero’s Badge
What it is and why it should go the way of the dodo bird

by R.T. “Chris” Christensen

A “Hero’s Badge’ is the recognition that you get when you take something that is busted and get it back together by taking three other busted parts and combining them together to make one “good” part. And you save the leftover parts for the next time the “Hero’s Badge “ opportunity comes up.

It wasn’t that long ago that people strived to get the vaunted Hero’s Badge. I had a few guys in my maintenance crew who were thought of as wizards at getting things fixed. I’m afraid that I, too, am in that group as I can fix my old English cars for next to nothing. Or so it seems, as when I do the repair, other than some oil and cleaners, it basically costs nothing to fix the car.

And we all know that English cars were meant to be worked on all week so we could drive them short distances on the weekend. All things on them are ultimately adjustable and are held in place with hold down clamps and pins and locking plates that really don’t work that well. The SU carburettors (English spelling) work this way. All electricals are made by the Joseph Lucas Company and are designed to trap water, or dirt, or dust, or spider webs, or just about anything that will break the electrical connection. So we putzed with it all to get it going again. I fix it and my wife gives me a Hero’s Badge for doing it.

So I can do this. And my guys in the maintenance department could do the same thing with the machinery and equipment in the plant. It might take only a few hours or days or weeks. But it gets fixed. We can do this and get it operational again. And we got the coveted Hero’s Badge for doing it. Oh, to be blessed at birth with the mystical talent to putz around and fix things. Costs almost nothing. Or does it?

We just can’t afford to give out those Hero’s Badges any more. While it looks like we are saving money on repairs, we miss the real costs here. Yes, we don’t spend much direct money on the actual repair. But the big thing we can’t afford is the down time while something is being putzed with. Look at the amount of revenue that piece of equipment generates per hour of operation and it becomes apparent that the cost of the lost production is the big ticket item here — not the money saved on making the repair itself.

You are going to argue with me and say that it makes no difference if we mess around with a machine that we only use 20 percent of the time, which means that we have 80 percent of the working year to fix it. Not true. We don’t find out that a machine needs work until we need it and start to run it. Murphy’s Law states that machines only break when you run them. So whether a machine is loading 20 percent of the time or 90 percent of the time, the need to fix it happens at the same time we need parts. And we still have lost production time and no saleable production.

So putzing costs money in lost production. But it also costs money because the equipment generally runs slower and not as well as it did before. My MGTD is slow anyway and never ran that well to begin with so putzing is okay here. But only here, not in your shop.

The third negative to the Hero’s Badge is that the equipment is now running with worn parts or parts nearer the end of their service life and therefore will not and cannot last as long as a new part. Because of this, the repair frequency is higher and the machine is down more, causing additional lost production.

What you need to do is fix the machine right the first time with quality parts, and focus on Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), as I have talked about in the past. This is why we replace light bulbs all at the same time when they near the end of their design life. Do this too on pumps, motors, relays, solenoids, filters and other fairly cheap predictable parts in your shop. It will save you money and generate more revenue in the long run. Forget the Hero’s badge, and save that for the garage.

Remember, the reason the English drink warm beer is because they have Lucas refrigerators.

R. T. “Chris” Christensen is Emeritus Faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is Emeritus Director of Operations and Maintenance Management Certificate Programs at the Universities Executive Education Department in the School of Business. Contact Coach Christensen at 262-613-0073; E-mail: crchristensen1958@wi.rr.com.

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