In my column last week, we asked, "Do you think a lack of thoroughness causes accidents in our mills?"
46.2 of respondents answered "Often," 30.8 said "Very often," 15.4 percent replied "Sometimes," 7.7 said "Seldom," and no one replied "Never."
We then asked, "How often have you seen a lack of thoroughness cause maintenance problems?"
53.8 percent replied "Often," 30.8 percent said "Very often," 7.7 percent answered "Sometimes," and 7.7 percent said "Seldom." Again, no one chose "Never."
Finally, we asked, "Do you have any ideas on how to teach thoroughness?"
Here are the responses:
>I think a large part of the problem comes from the short-term profit motive at senior levels. When critical maintenance is deferred, good projects are axed due to long term capital paybacks, down to skipping felt washes during breaks, or only cleaning visible, easily accessible areas during sheet breaks, and trying to do more with less people in shorter timeframes. Managers rewarding crews that take short cuts to reduce downtime, and castigating crews that take the time to properly clean up. These are the types of things that old school papermakers thought of as fundamental requirements, but the new breed MBA types consider to be wasteful and costing uptime. On the safety side of things, we are seeing the pendulum swing the other way, and much more emphasis on toolbox meetings, hazard analysis, permitted work systems etc. This is excellent for safety, and again no additional crewing or time is allocated and so the job is done much more safely but is not completed thoroughly or fully. The candle can only burn from both ends for so long.
>Thoroughness is the mental checklist that each much do to know that the job has been correctly done. For some it must be written, but is the person doing the work that must go through the mental or their own writing to know that they have done the right things.
>Thoroughness can be thought of as degree of completion. Learning to stop after one thinks a job is complete and look for loose ends is one way to determine degree of completion. After repacking a pump,look around; seal water hooked up and adjusted,old packing cleaned up, operators notified, safety tags/locks removed, pump "owner" signed-off as job complete, etc is one example.
>One of the biggest problems I agree, if someone isn't thorough it seems to be much harder and needing much more energy to be teached. To be honest, some people always need the attention to be and keep being thorough.
>Cease the wide spread practice of measuring overall effeciency on the sole basis of number of tasks completed within a specific time period.
>I'm afraid not.
>Ask the Operator, Tender, Maintenance person; any responsible person what he or she believes needs attention; and why it's important. You must then follow up with action then!!!
>By example. Try to instill the understanding that being thorough initially is usually less work in the end.
>Awareness and practice
>Teaching, learning and doing thoroughness requires a clear definition of what is enough. Without that measure or standard, the person (child, student, employee, associate, etc) will never make you or themselves happy. With a clear understanding of expectations, I usually see people and me doing more than enough. Expectations can't be determined by trial and error, yet that is often the approach that is taken. Is not doing enough when young (under 20) a lack of an innate characteristic or not having a caring mentor (leader, parent, coach, brother, grandparent, someone) that demonstrates how to define it in any situation and enjoy the benefits of going beyond. I don't think many people have the innate ability to know what is enough. It's the mentoring/coaching/parenting, etc that plants and nurtures it. Same thing when you are older, but it just takes more effort.....for the leader and the learner.
You may take this week's quiz here.
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