In a separate post the expression 'bad actor' came up in reference to equipment and equipment failure - apparently it is used in the oil and gas industry.

I hadn't heard this term used in this way before and wonder what other unique and interesting expressions are used in the maintenace and reliability fields.

So, I invite you to post other unique or interesting expressions or terminology. Who knows we may learn something and get a laugh along the way!


By the way, here was the explanation for a bad actor:
Bad actors are frequent events which are chronic in nature but once off events like fires or explosions are infrequent events which can be acute when they occur.


Cheers,

In inventory management, what do they call 20% of stocks which cause 80% of the inventory cost?

I would call this the 'Pareto Inventory'.

This is based on the Pareto Principle or the 'law of the vital few', otherwise called the 80:20 rule!

If you are really interested try googling Vilfredo Pareto. He was an Italian economist that died about 100 years ago.

Cheers,

I read an article about the T282B haultruck which has a sentence:" The truck cannot be too complicated, because it must be repaired fast, often in the middle of the night at the end of the world. Service Mechanics want to repair it blindfolded with a sledgehammer and prybar.

When I was in heavy equipment, we had a Basic Toolbox consisting of pipewrench, sledgehammer and prybar.

It was difficult to convince some people, that better tools existed

Phil, it's the same Pareto thing with bad actors ie 20% of equipment causing 80% of the problems. So the 20% equipment is called bad actors.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Josh,

Steven,

When I worked in mobile equipment the mechanics had the answer for increasing reliability - get rid of the operators, And the operators had the answer for increasing availability - get rid of the mechanics.

I know this is not an idiom, but I couldn't resist.

And the beanies: " get rid of the people, maintenance, let us place smarter equipment that will never break, ask for a raise or need training": increasing profitability.

At the end they managed to get rid of the business

Jaz, I have been working in maintenance and operations and sadly enough your statements are universal.

That's the common challenges which need to be turned into opportunities. How to do it? Any strategy & tactics?

When I was complaining about the "cannibals" at Operations my (first) boss always said

If the mountain cannot come to Mohammed, Mohammed has to go to the Mountain.

Translated: You need to do everything to get the problem fixed.

But...
Sometimes he also used the expresion: "Let the s... hit the fan, if other ways were exhausted

Well, any specific proactive & innovative strategy & tactics (everything to do) which are delibarately carried out to bridge or bring the operations & maintenance personnel together plus the finance people?

Where I worked we had a nickname applicable to a busy-looking, officious
but entirely ineffective dept. head-.

This is rude but we are men here.

"Hey so tell me, what's up with old F---adoodle today?"

It's all that we called him and we never felt bad about it.
It was sort of affectionate, not really mean.

I often think about F and hope he's doing well, at whatever it is
that he's not really getting done.

Here's a term I was reminded of last week.

Probsolete. I coined the term a few years ago for discussing inventory items that may or may not be obsolete. More investigation was needed to understand their status (e.g were they used soemwhere other than in the obvious place and so on).

The term was required because if you say to an accountant that soemthing is obsolete then they want to write it off. If you say that it is not obsolete they wonder why you are taking time to investigate! Its not all that black and white so hence the term probsolete.

Cheers,

quote:

Originally posted by svanels:

And the beanies: " get rid of the people, maintenance, let us place smarter equipment that will never break, ask for a raise or need training": increasing profitability.

At the end they managed to get rid of the business

I find it truly amazing that the beanies "Support Staff" actually get to run the show.... any ideas or thoughts here?

I also have a receipt for that , if someone wants to run the show, give it to him, especially when problems arise.

..Mr Beanie, the plant is down, what we are going to do now ?? That usualy transmits the message

First management desicion of Mr. Beannie:
* "svannels, you are by this means my designee to handle this problem and I expect a detailed report by the end of the day."

Sorry, I come with my dumbest expression on the face, asking Mr Beanie to solve my problems.

That is why bosess are for

Svannels, Mr. Beanie F---adoodle called to say that is already past 5:00 PM and he is waiting for your detailed report.

Already sent it with 3 options (doom scenarios) to choose. Waiting for feedback about how to proceed..

When things get worse it is a management decission

From reading all of the above it sounds like you guys have been really badly bitten by management!

Anyway, Ahmed asked a serious question:

quote:

I find it truly amazing that the beanies "Support Staff" actually get to run the show.... any ideas or thoughts here?

My view of this is simple - follow the money. The owners of a business (or shareholders) are interested in a return on investment. The Board and management are measured and rewarded by this or some similar measure. The beanies know how to talk that language. They present profit and loss statements and balance sheets that management and the Board understand.

Most engineers/maintenace staff talk techo and present problems not solutions. Or they say 'spend more to get capacity' when the management want to hear 'save more to increse margins/profit'. Who gets the power? The ones that talk the right language to management and the Board.

I am not saying that this is right, just that this is the way it is. The solution for an engineer/maintenace person? Learn the talk and talk their language. No sense in talking english to someone who only speaks greek!

Cheers,

This is a place to come with questions and get ideas, suggestions, references, and/or solutions. Also, some of us use it for stress relief.