MANAGEMENT
We are trying every day to rid ourselves
of problems.
People’s imaginations always seem to be
concerned with arriving at a place where our
problems are solved (money, companionship,
housing, health, etc.). We rarely appreciate
our problems for having made us stronger. An
appreciation of these problems can lead us to
build more reliable systems and processes.
A problem, mistake or accident opens a door
to a hidden world. Th at “problem” world is
completely hidden when everything goes right.
A real-world example
Let’s review a historic problem that has been
extensively studied: the sinking of the RMS
Titanic passenger liner, which hit an iceberg
in 1912, on its maiden voyage to New York City
from the U.K.
We can look at this example, even superfi -
34 Fleet Maintenance | March 2018
cially, to see the hidden world. Here is a partial
list of the reasons the ship sank:
Collided with iceberg
No bow watch, no binoculars for crow’s nest
Rudder too small
Improper maneuver
Radio was run 9-5 as a concession (Western
Union) and was off at the time and they
didn’t hear about the icebergs. Ship’s business
and safety were low priority
Water tight compartments not water tight
Th ere was a bad batch of rivets
Every new investigation has uncovered more
reasons why the ship sank. Just accepting this
short list starts to reveal the hidden world.
First off , if there was no iceberg in the way
the ship’s passengers would have happily sailed
on to New York, and we would be unaware of
these potential or latent defects.
Th e actual events tell a diff erent story.
Hundreds of other defects and potential accidents
lurked on that ship.
Th e sinking threw a spotlight
on the defects. People
were enraged at the loss
of life and property from a
supposedly unsinkable ship.
Investigations started as the
facts were streaming in. Many
of these issues were brought
forward at inquiries on both
sides of the Atlantic.
In fact, many major changes were made to
the entire cruising industry that continue to
this day. If you take even a short cruise nowadays,
one of the fi rst tasks to complete is a
muster drill. Th is emergency drill, completed
aft er passengers board the ship, provides
details on emergency procedures and escape
routes. Th is drill is completed for both the
passengers and the crew. Th e ignorance of both
groups accounted for (some of) the unnecessarily
high loss of life during the sinking of
the Titanic.
Takeaways
What does this have to do with fl eet maintenance?
Just look at any incident, breakdown
or accident. When you conduct a root cause
analysis you’ll fi nd all kinds of “causes” that
had to be present for the incident to take place.
Consider an accident that happened at your
facility years ago, when the world opened up.
Th ere were all kinds of factors that may have
caused the issue — weather, road conditions,
truck mechanical systems, maneuvering, visual
acuity, refl ex time, anticipation, etc. Now
most of these are not easily changeable, but
some, like requiring eye exams, drug testing,
a CDL license and background checks, to name
a few, are now standard practice. A generation
of drivers are safer because of the hidden world
opened up by reviewing these problems.
Apply this same analysis when confronted
by unreliable equipment, low fuel effi ciency,
excessive time taken in the shop, fuel problems
or spare parts problems.
You are forced to look
Problems force you to look closely at the
system, product or process. You may analyze
and see a wide variety of causes. Some of
these problems can be addressed at low cost.
Taken together, fi xing these causes can result
in fewer problems in the future because the
latent defects might have contributed in diff erent
ways to other problems.
Th e hidden world is revealed by the problem.
We feel sad and upset about the loss. But
when we exercise defect elimination we have
an opportunity to fi x these issues on all the
ships currently in use and save countless lives
over the next 100 years. Th at is the advantage
of problems.
Addressing the
“problem” paradox
Take a diff erent approach to how you
address system and process issues.
By Joel Levitt
PRESIDENT, SPRINGFIELD RESOURCES
Springfield Resources (maintenancetraining.com) is a management consulting
firm that services a variety of clients on a wide range of maintenance
issues. Levitt is the president of the company, and has trained more
than 17,000 maintenance leaders from more than 3,000 organizations in
24 countries. He is also the creator of Laser-Focused Training, a flexible
training program that provides specific targeted training on your schedule,
online to one to 250 people in maintenance management, asset management
and reliability.
» Reviewing a problem opens up a hidden
world. In the case of the infamous RMS Titanic
sinking, investigations uncovered a number
of reasons why the ship may have sank.
Photo from iStock
A problem, mistake
or accident opens a door
to a hidden world.
/maintenancetraining.com