Hi everyone – They say success has many parents whereas failure is an orphan. The whole team can take pride in a smoothly running system. Yet when unexpected breakdowns occur, those same teammates will wonder who let them down. Shouldn’t somebody have seen what was coming? If that job or “hat” is unassigned, then who could have been in a position to see what was coming? After all, there is always at least some indication – could it have been observed? After a breakdown, the urge to find someone to name can be almost irresistible.
“The buck stops here.” What does that mean? Well, here is the story behind the slogan. It started with the phrase, “passing the buck,” which means to pass responsibility for something to someone else.
"The buck" designates the dealer in poker.
The expression “Passing the buck” came from the game of poker. A button or marker was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal cards. If a player did not wish to deal the cards, he could pass the responsibility by passing the “buck,” as the marker came to be called, to the next player.
“The buck stops here.” This was a sign on the desk of Harry S. Truman, who wore the “hat” of US President. When he left office, he said, “The President – whoever he is – has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”
How does this apply to machine maintenance?
I think the answer to this question is another question: Who could have watched for indications that, if observed, could have avoided that failure?
Could it be you? And what would you need to do it?
The calculation of cost of condition monitoring instrumentation versus downtime has already been done by many (see below for how to do it for your machine). For most machines, there is no comparison. Yet, the “bean counters” (slang for the financial guys) say we can’t afford the cost just now (but somehow the cost of downtime or sudden repairs does get covered), so the buck could be passed to them.
Or the buck could be passed to a manager who, for reasons unknown, failed to approve the purchase of a $30,000 vibration analyzer and a maintenance contract of $7,000 per year.
But don’t be too surprised if the buck finds its way to you, fairly or unfairly.
The point is, finding a place to pin the buck won’t fix a machine that rattled itself to pieces. Really, it’s better to have the tools to avoid breakdowns than a great system for passing the buck around.
Thankfully, you probably don’t need a $30,000 piece of equipment and a $7,000/year maintenance contract to institute an effective vibration analysis program.
You could just decide to take it on and “wear the hat,” that is, be the one who does the condition monitoring or who insists it gets done effectively, even if you’re not in the pass-the-buck circuit.
Or you could wear the hat of helping educate managers and financial people on the real cost of failing to monitor the indicators. Our Cost Analysis Spreadsheet can help (it has its own category on this blog page).
You can just say: “The buck stops here” and “I can do this.” We can help.
Penny Melrose
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