Page 431 - Intro Predictive Maintenance

422 An Introduction to Predictive Maintenance

• Recognizing the change in role. People who have been promoted into super-
vision must recognize that their role has changed and that they are no longer
one of the gang. They must remember that being a supervisor may require
unpopular decisions. Supervisors are the connecting link between the other
levels of management and the operative employees and must learn to repre-
sent both groups.
• Desire for the job. Many people who have no desire to be supervisors are
promoted into supervision merely because of their technical skills. Regard-
less of one’s technical skills, the desire to be a supervisor is necessary for
success. That desire encourages a person to develop the other types of skills
necessary in supervision—human relations, administrative, and decision-
making skills.

18.10.3 Working without Supervision

There is a growing trend in U.S. industry to eliminate the supervisor function. Instead,
more plants are replacing this function with self-directed teams, using a production
supervisor to oversee maintenance, or using hourly workers to direct the work
function. Each of these methods can provide some level of work direction, but all
eliminate many of the critical functions that should be provided by the first-line
supervisor.

Self-Directed Teams
This approach is an adaptation of the Japanese approach to management. The func-
tional responsibilities of day-to-day plant operation are delegated to individual groups
of employees. Each team is then required to develop the methods, performance crite-
ria, and execution of their assigned tasks. The team decides how the work is to be
accomplished, who will perform required tasks, and the sequence of execution. All
decisions require a consensus of the team members.

In some environments, this approach can be successful; however, the absence of a
clearly defined leader, mentor, and enforcer can severely limit the team’s effective-
ness. By nature, any process that requires majority approval of actions taken is slow
and inefficient. This is especially true of the self-directed work team. Composition of
the work team is also critical to success. Typically, one of three scenarios takes place.
Some teams have a single, strong individual who in effect makes all team decisions.
This individual controls the decision process and the team always adopts his or her
ideas. The second scenario is a team with two or more natural leaders. In this team
composition, the strong members must agree on direction before any consensus can
be reached. In many cases, the team is forced into inaction simply because disagree-
ment exists among the strongest team members. The third team composition is one
without any strong-willed members. Generally, this type of group founders and little,
if any, productive work is provided. Regardless of the team composition, this attempt
to replace first-line supervisors severely limits plant performance.