A Tisket, a Tasket, an Air Heater Basket
In 1990, way before deregulation, I was part of an “elite” force in a major utility. It was elite because each job title got paid one grade higher than anyone else in the company with the same title. For example a Foreman in our group was pay level #9 while any other Foreman was pay level #8. In addition to the higher wages, our group had the most amount of overtime; one year a mechanic made more money than the senior vice president. For some strange reason, they hired me, an educated engineer with operating experience, to be a Foreman in this select group. Since I was half the age of the next youngest Foreman, I was met with a great deal of resistance.
The first major job I was given included changing out the baskets of 4 pre-heaters and redoing the seals. I had never done anything like this before so I decided to start from scratch. I set up my space; scaffolds and trolley beams galore. I was told just to follow the marks of where things go from previous years. However, it seemed awkward to me.
Instead of pulling the baskets, from one central beam, which had always been the procedure, I moved the one trolley beam closer to the walk way and I put a beam over each pre-heater in line with the baskets. By matching the angles, the picks would be straight this way required one beam to pull the baskets, and another to move the baskets in the drop hole.
We were moving an average of 45 baskets a shift. When the project manager and general Foreman saw these production numbers in the log book, they were met with suspicion. We then took a tour thru the pre-heater when they saw how I had set up the pre-heater they insisted I was “padding” the numbers and they demanded that I change my set up. I asked them how many baskets a shift should I be getting they responded that I should average 27 baskets a shift. I walked them down to where all the old baskets were and we counted them and it matched with my log book entries.
Because I had proven that my log book was not padded I was able to stay with my set up. It was, however, made quite clear that I would be fired for insubordination if I went over budget.
I ended up finishing that job with an average of 42 baskets a shift with 11 people, the next pre heater I did we averaged 63 baskets a shift with 9 people, and the last was our best, 76 baskets a shift with 5 people.
Moral of the Story
How you set things up matters. Job set up is the place where the biggest “bang for the buck” can happen. While there can only be one boss, every job set up should be reviewed by different people with varying viewpoints.
Rule of Thumb
No matter the size of the project, walk it down with the responsible party. This will open up a discussion on the best options and procedures to move forward. Once the job is completed hold a lessons learned discussion and note all the things you would do differently and why so that you may improve on your last performance.
“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. ”
