A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TRANSITION FROM WHAT EXISTS TO WHAT MAY BE DESIRED

Home | About M. L. Puri | The writings | Feedback

A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TRANSITION FROM WHAT EXISTS TO WHAT MAY BE DESIRED

M. L. Puri (Jan 27, 1947)

Using a case study in successful locomotive maintenance, the author explains his approach to dealing with any situation or problem. First, he divides works into 3 categories: emergency, routine and development, explaining the specificities of each category. He goes on to provide a framework to ensure development based on the fundamental approach outlined by him.

Annexure II

Fundamental approach – amplification.

1. Fundamental approach is calculated to produce a concise, rationally connected, basically complete and easily comprehensive picture of an otherwise complex problem and thereby facilitate its sound tackling.

2. The problem is in the first instance academically crystallized in basic terms as a thesis. The thesis is revised till it becomes an acceptable skeleton for policy building. Individual ideas in the thesis are then enlarged into separate themes which in turn form the basis for specific projects / schemes and are also employed in the design of the control machinery.

3. An illustration of the first stage of this method of approach is attempted in annexure III.

Annexure III.

Development in relation to the maintenance of power – an analysis.

Note: This is intended to serve as an illustration of the first stage of the method of approach depicted in annexure II.

A. GENERAL

1. Functionally, work can be

a) emergency

b) routine

c) development

2. Emergency – implies an unusual increase in demand that has not been provided for.

a) It causes dislocation

Immediate

In its after effects, because

b) the normal supply cannot balance the demand.

To balance it extra supply is created by

i) Elimination of waste.
ii) Reinforcement of supply
iii)Drawing on reserve
iv)Combination of i, ii and iii.

c) Waste is that which can be removed without prejudice to any basic condition. If a basic condition is affected, it will have to be accounted for. Elimination of waste is justified if elimination cost plus any burden due to affected basic condition or conditions is less than the saving.

d) ‘Reinforcement of supply’ if done independent of the prevailing basic conditions, does not affect the routine. Its effect is however felt to the extent the foregoing is not possible.

e)Reserve is provided to absorb fluctuations which unabsorbed would cause disproportionate damage: thus ‘drawing on reserves’ would result in disproportionate deterioration. State of deterioration is a basic condition. As such return with continuity to pre-emergency targets (assumed continuous) is not possible till the corresponding deterioration has been made good.

3. Routine - What stays, is generally the best under the circumstances. Routine is the procedure that has stayed. It is therefore the optimum for a given combination of influencing factors. Important of these factors are

* Task
* Organization
* Staff
* Facilities

a) For a stable change in routine a stable change of one or more of the influencing factors is a prerequisite. Otherwise the change, if so called, will be unstable and confusing.

b) Change in influencing factors can be

i) imposed
ii) deliberate
(i) is emergency and therefore for the worse.
(ii) is supposed to be for the better; but can be only if it is sound.

c) The assess soundness beforehand scientific scrutiny is the proper guide. Thus ‘change of routine for the better’ or ‘reorganization’ as it is called should be entrusted only to a function competent to undertake scientific scrutiny viz. the ‘research and development’ or simply ‘development’ function.

4. Development: is deliberate correction. To correct needs competent effort. Therefore development cannot be better than development capacity, in quality; nor more than it in volume.

a) Development is graded. So should be the development effort. For each grade of development, there is a certain minimum caliber for development effort. Below this caliber development does not materialize. On the contrary damage is inflicted through confusion. Development attempted should only be in proportion to the effective development effort available.

b) To increase its range, personnel of corresponding caliber must be obtained. To increase its volume the effort of the corresponding caliber must increase.

c) Caliber is improved by:

i) Careful selection
ii) Scientific training
iii) Scope for specialization

d) Effective development effort is increased by

i)Elimination of routine for development workers
ii)Training additional development capacity.

e) For successful development there should exist

i)distinct development function
ii)facility to select suitable personnel
iii)Policy to retain on development, those sound suitable.
iv)Provision for adequate prospects in the development function itself, so that the development worker is adequately remunerated and in no case penalized for good work.

f) If development capacity is the bottleneck of development, its improvement and expansion should receive priority. As such a reasonable proportion of the existing development capacity should be employed on

i)Simplification of routine.
ii)Systematization of records
iii)training and instructions
(i) will increase the availability of development effort.
(ii) would permit its economical employment by obviating avoidable duplication.
(iii) would add to what exists.

5. Stages of development are:

a) clarification of aims and objects

b) knowledge of working conditions through

i) experience
ii) planned enquiry
This knowledge constitutes the basic data and governs the accuracy of conclusions. It should be concise but representative. For it to be so
iii) technical knowledge should be sound.
iv) observation keen
v) outlook scientific and
vi) attitude thorough

c) breakdown of the subject in basic terms

d) review of a, b & c; and adjustment of all

e) critical study of handicaps and limitations

f) detailing of items requiring attention and fixation of priorities

g) formulation of provisional plans and their application on restricted scale.

h) scientific scrutiny in to the progress of the plan

i) note of the alteration in basic conditions that enabled progress

j) decision if the alterations of (i) are acceptable or else further adjustment till decision is reached

k) change of basic conditions decided upon in (j) at the desired spots

l) authorization of the adjusted provisional plan as standard for those spots and its removal from the development item list

Note – Routine as a rule proceeds untampered except when contacted by development in the manner (g) or (l).

B. Power – utilization, deterioration, rectification – relative study

1. Power is supplied and maintained to balance traffic for

a) flow
b) volume

Traffic is dislocated when (a) or (b) or both become unbalanced.

2. Flow is balanced when an engine commences and completes its journey as scheduled, i.e. when, only a reliable engine undertakes journey.

3. Volume is balanced when for every train there is an engine offering.

4. For uninterrupted traffic there should exist reliable engines in sufficient numbers.

5. If (4) cannot be ensured, the state is emergency and dislocation has to be tolerated.

6. Nature of emergency governs the choice between dislocation from ‘flow’ and ‘volume’ or a relative proportion of both if both have to exist.

7. If dislocation is met by restricting volume, engine reliability remains normal.

8. If volume is increased without provision, then engine reliability is lost and flow dislocated.

9. If (8) continues, then maintenance reserves are drained and engine deterioration accelerates.

10. (9) will cause reliability to fall at an increasing rate, unbalance volume as a result, and in the limit cause a standstill of movement.

11. Range of damage is from the point of dislocation to the point of standstill. Its rate varies and increases towards the end of the range.

12. This type of damage is serious to incur and dangerous if it proceeds.

13. It should not develop at all. If inevitable during emergency, it should be rectified as soon as possible.

14. By rectification is implied ‘effective’ rectification. Anything ineffective, even if termed effective, will inflict further damage as

a) deteriorational damage during the so called rectification period
b) direct waste of the so called rectificational effort.
c) waste due to dissipation of allied effort in confusion.

15. Effort is required to discriminate between effective and ineffective rectification; but this much less in proportion to the saving it effects and is therefore better placed.

16. Rectification is effective in proportion to

a) it is rightly conceived
b) it is properly executed

17. As such the starting point of rectification is its correct conception.

18. There is no direct check on the correction of conception as such.

19. An indirect check is the scrutiny of the method of approach.

20. Scrutiny is done with discretion. So the pertinent and possible check on the soundness of rectification measures is the check on the quality of discretion employed.

21. Factors influencing quality of discretion are

a) soundness of knowledge

general

specialised

b) thoroughness in detail
c) sobriety in disposition
d) trained sense of proportion

Note- (b), (c), (d) are as a matter of fact included in 'soundness'.

C. Maintenance – Proposition

1. Maintenance is to keep engines reliable.

2. An engine is reliable when its ‘fettle reserve’ at the commencement of its journey enables it to complete the same as scheduled.

3. Too high a reserve is a loss. It locks up capital.

4. Too low a reserve also gives loss by

a) dislocation through

i) accidents,
ii) failures
iii) other dislocations.

b) increased rate of deterioration.

5. Loss from inadequate ‘fettle reserve’ is serious as direct; and even more serious as difficult to assess and account for. It can escape notice and cause misleading conclusions and incorrect standards.

6. When a choice of error is possible, it should be on the high ‘fettle reserve’ side. This may not be the best; but is relatively less dangerous.

7. Working is best when ‘fettle reserve’ is most economical. Economical ‘fettle reserve’ coincides with the economical limit of deterioration (E.L.D) of the engine.

8. An engine, to work reliably, should receive attention before its E.L.D is reached.

9. As will be seen later, attentions are cycled and graded in intensity – the most intensive constituting the ‘rejuvenating cycle’.

10. Rejuvenation can not be perfect. Hence with age, period of the ‘rejuvenating cycle’ and its subsidiaries should be reduced or else the engine progressively declassed or degraded.

11. Neglecting obsolescence, the lowest economical period of the ‘rejuvenating cycle’ or the lowest acceptable class or grade as the case may be, would constitute the scrapping limit of the engine.

12. Deterioration, though applied to the engine as a whole for convenience, has no definite meaning as such. Actually it implies the cumulative effect of the deterioration of its component parts.

13. Therefore deteriorations of individual components need to be studied.

14. This is the most conveniently done when influencing factors are minimum and their extents of variation least.

Note: - Conversely a conscious undertaking of this task will lead to recognition and eventual realization of simplification and standardization.

15. Stages after the study of deterioration will be

a). fixation of periods and intensities of cycled attentions (including renewals) for individual components.
b). grouping cycles of the same periods.
c). adjustment of periods and groups to

i. minimize groups
ii. make their periods simple multiples or submultiples of one another.

Note:-
z. This is to improve engine availability through simultaneous attention. It must not affect reliability; so that
y. adjustment should be on the safe side.
x. The adjusted ‘period groups’ constitute the basic attention schedules (B.A.Ss)

16. B.A.Ss require facilities, viz.

a. staff
b. equipment
c. stores.

17. It is not economical to provide facilities for individual engines or B.A.Ss. As such some measures of centralization of both are desirable.

Note: - Provision for such centralization is made in depots – nature and degree of centralization determining the
grade of the deport.

18. Yield is most when traffic is uninterrupted and in volume. Therefore maintenance economy from centralization (or any other source) must not disproportionately affect reliability or availability. In arriving at the optimum degree of centralization the order of consideration should be

a) reliability

b) availability

c) Maintenance cost.

19. An all line analysis of power should be made to arrive at

a) total number of engine required
Note:-Apart from any reserves, the allotment should provide for clear adequate time for B.A.Ss.

b) distribution of engines

c) grades of depots and number depots in each grade.

20. A graded depot is the basis of maintenance facilities in respect of

a) types

b) qualities in types

c) quantities in qualities.

This will enable total maintenance requirements being worked out.

21. The total power requirements and the total maintenance requirements should be compared with what exists and the types and extents of unbalance determined.

22. Emergency measures to meet the unbalance should be decided upon and rectification and subsequent development planned on a priority basis.

Home | Top



Home \| About M. L. Puri \| The writings \| Feedback

A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TRANSITION FROM WHAT EXISTS TO WHAT MAY BE DESIRED M. L. Puri (Jan 27, 1947) Using a case study in successful locomotive maintenance, the author explains his approach to dealing with any situation or problem. First, he divides works into 3 categories: emergency, routine and development, explaining the specificities of each category. He goes on to provide a framework to ensure development based on the fundamental approach outlined by him.
Annexure II Fundamental approach – amplification. 1. Fundamental approach is calculated to produce a concise, rationally connected, basically complete and easily comprehensive picture of an otherwise complex problem and thereby facilitate its sound tackling. 2. The problem is in the first instance academically crystallized in basic terms as a thesis. The thesis is revised till it becomes an acceptable skeleton for policy building. Individual ideas in the thesis are then enlarged into separate themes which in turn form the basis for specific projects / schemes and are also employed in the design of the control machinery. 3. An illustration of the first stage of this method of approach is attempted in annexure III. Annexure III. Development in relation to the maintenance of power – an analysis. Note: This is intended to serve as an illustration of the first stage of the method of approach depicted in annexure II. A. GENERAL 1. Functionally, work can be a) emergency b) routine c) development 2. Emergency – implies an unusual increase in demand that has not been provided for. a) It causes dislocation Immediate In its after effects, because b) the normal supply cannot balance the demand. To balance it extra supply is created by i) Elimination of waste. ii) Reinforcement of supply iii)Drawing on reserve iv)Combination of i, ii and iii. c) Waste is that which can be removed without prejudice to any basic condition. If a basic condition is affected, it will have to be accounted for. Elimination of waste is justified if elimination cost plus any burden due to affected basic condition or conditions is less than the saving. d) ‘Reinforcement of supply’ if done independent of the prevailing basic conditions, does not affect the routine. Its effect is however felt to the extent the foregoing is not possible. e)Reserve is provided to absorb fluctuations which unabsorbed would cause disproportionate damage: thus ‘drawing on reserves’ would result in disproportionate deterioration. State of deterioration is a basic condition. As such return with continuity to pre-emergency targets (assumed continuous) is not possible till the corresponding deterioration has been made good. 3. Routine - What stays, is generally the best under the circumstances. Routine is the procedure that has stayed. It is therefore the optimum for a given combination of influencing factors. Important of these factors are * Task * Organization * Staff * Facilities a) For a stable change in routine a stable change of one or more of the influencing factors is a prerequisite. Otherwise the change, if so called, will be unstable and confusing. b) Change in influencing factors can be i) imposed ii) deliberate (i) is emergency and therefore for the worse. (ii) is supposed to be for the better; but can be only if it is sound. c) The assess soundness beforehand scientific scrutiny is the proper guide. Thus ‘change of routine for the better’ or ‘reorganization’ as it is called should be entrusted only to a function competent to undertake scientific scrutiny viz. the ‘research and development’ or simply ‘development’ function. 4. Development: is deliberate correction. To correct needs competent effort. Therefore development cannot be better than development capacity, in quality; nor more than it in volume. a) Development is graded. So should be the development effort. For each grade of development, there is a certain minimum caliber for development effort. Below this caliber development does not materialize. On the contrary damage is inflicted through confusion. Development attempted should only be in proportion to the effective development effort available. b) To increase its range, personnel of corresponding caliber must be obtained. To increase its volume the effort of the corresponding caliber must increase. c) Caliber is improved by: i) Careful selection ii) Scientific training iii) Scope for specialization d) Effective development effort is increased by i)Elimination of routine for development workers ii)Training additional development capacity. e) For successful development there should exist i)distinct development function ii)facility to select suitable personnel iii)Policy to retain on development, those sound suitable. iv)Provision for adequate prospects in the development function itself, so that the development worker is adequately remunerated and in no case penalized for good work. f) If development capacity is the bottleneck of development, its improvement and expansion should receive priority. As such a reasonable proportion of the existing development capacity should be employed on i)Simplification of routine. ii)Systematization of records iii)training and instructions (i) will increase the availability of development effort. (ii) would permit its economical employment by obviating avoidable duplication. (iii) would add to what exists. 5. Stages of development are: a) clarification of aims and objects b) knowledge of working conditions through i) experience ii) planned enquiry This knowledge constitutes the basic data and governs the accuracy of conclusions. It should be concise but representative. For it to be so iii) technical knowledge should be sound. iv) observation keen v) outlook scientific and vi) attitude thorough c) breakdown of the subject in basic terms d) review of a, b & c; and adjustment of all e) critical study of handicaps and limitations f) detailing of items requiring attention and fixation of priorities g) formulation of provisional plans and their application on restricted scale. h) scientific scrutiny in to the progress of the plan i) note of the alteration in basic conditions that enabled progress j) decision if the alterations of (i) are acceptable or else further adjustment till decision is reached k) change of basic conditions decided upon in (j) at the desired spots l) authorization of the adjusted provisional plan as standard for those spots and its removal from the development item list Note – Routine as a rule proceeds untampered except when contacted by development in the manner (g) or (l). B. Power – utilization, deterioration, rectification – relative study 1. Power is supplied and maintained to balance traffic for a) flow b) volume Traffic is dislocated when (a) or (b) or both become unbalanced. 2. Flow is balanced when an engine commences and completes its journey as scheduled, i.e. when, only a reliable engine undertakes journey. 3. Volume is balanced when for every train there is an engine offering. 4. For uninterrupted traffic there should exist reliable engines in sufficient numbers. 5. If (4) cannot be ensured, the state is emergency and dislocation has to be tolerated. 6. Nature of emergency governs the choice between dislocation from ‘flow’ and ‘volume’ or a relative proportion of both if both have to exist. 7. If dislocation is met by restricting volume, engine reliability remains normal. 8. If volume is increased without provision, then engine reliability is lost and flow dislocated. 9. If (8) continues, then maintenance reserves are drained and engine deterioration accelerates. 10. (9) will cause reliability to fall at an increasing rate, unbalance volume as a result, and in the limit cause a standstill of movement. 11. Range of damage is from the point of dislocation to the point of standstill. Its rate varies and increases towards the end of the range. 12. This type of damage is serious to incur and dangerous if it proceeds. 13. It should not develop at all. If inevitable during emergency, it should be rectified as soon as possible. 14. By rectification is implied ‘effective’ rectification. Anything ineffective, even if termed effective, will inflict further damage as a) deteriorational damage during the so called rectification period b) direct waste of the so called rectificational effort. c) waste due to dissipation of allied effort in confusion. 15. Effort is required to discriminate between effective and ineffective rectification; but this much less in proportion to the saving it effects and is therefore better placed. 16. Rectification is effective in proportion to a) it is rightly conceived b) it is properly executed 17. As such the starting point of rectification is its correct conception. 18. There is no direct check on the correction of conception as such. 19. An indirect check is the scrutiny of the method of approach. 20. Scrutiny is done with discretion. So the pertinent and possible check on the soundness of rectification measures is the check on the quality of discretion employed. 21. Factors influencing quality of discretion are a) soundness of knowledge general specialised b) thoroughness in detail c) sobriety in disposition d) trained sense of proportion Note- (b), (c), (d) are as a matter of fact included in 'soundness'. C. Maintenance – Proposition 1. Maintenance is to keep engines reliable. 2. An engine is reliable when its ‘fettle reserve’ at the commencement of its journey enables it to complete the same as scheduled. 3. Too high a reserve is a loss. It locks up capital. 4. Too low a reserve also gives loss by a) dislocation through i) accidents, ii) failures iii) other dislocations. b) increased rate of deterioration. 5. Loss from inadequate ‘fettle reserve’ is serious as direct; and even more serious as difficult to assess and account for. It can escape notice and cause misleading conclusions and incorrect standards. 6. When a choice of error is possible, it should be on the high ‘fettle reserve’ side. This may not be the best; but is relatively less dangerous. 7. Working is best when ‘fettle reserve’ is most economical. Economical ‘fettle reserve’ coincides with the economical limit of deterioration (E.L.D) of the engine. 8. An engine, to work reliably, should receive attention before its E.L.D is reached. 9. As will be seen later, attentions are cycled and graded in intensity – the most intensive constituting the ‘rejuvenating cycle’. 10. Rejuvenation can not be perfect. Hence with age, period of the ‘rejuvenating cycle’ and its subsidiaries should be reduced or else the engine progressively declassed or degraded. 11. Neglecting obsolescence, the lowest economical period of the ‘rejuvenating cycle’ or the lowest acceptable class or grade as the case may be, would constitute the scrapping limit of the engine. 12. Deterioration, though applied to the engine as a whole for convenience, has no definite meaning as such. Actually it implies the cumulative effect of the deterioration of its component parts. 13. Therefore deteriorations of individual components need to be studied. 14. This is the most conveniently done when influencing factors are minimum and their extents of variation least. Note: - Conversely a conscious undertaking of this task will lead to recognition and eventual realization of simplification and standardization. 15. Stages after the study of deterioration will be a). fixation of periods and intensities of cycled attentions (including renewals) for individual components. b). grouping cycles of the same periods. c). adjustment of periods and groups to i. minimize groups ii. make their periods simple multiples or submultiples of one another. Note:- z. This is to improve engine availability through simultaneous attention. It must not affect reliability; so that y. adjustment should be on the safe side. x. The adjusted ‘period groups’ constitute the basic attention schedules (B.A.Ss) 16. B.A.Ss require facilities, viz. a. staff b. equipment c. stores. 17. It is not economical to provide facilities for individual engines or B.A.Ss. As such some measures of centralization of both are desirable. Note: - Provision for such centralization is made in depots – nature and degree of centralization determining the grade of the deport. 18. Yield is most when traffic is uninterrupted and in volume. Therefore maintenance economy from centralization (or any other source) must not disproportionately affect reliability or availability. In arriving at the optimum degree of centralization the order of consideration should be a) reliability b) availability c) Maintenance cost. 19. An all line analysis of power should be made to arrive at a) total number of engine required Note:-Apart from any reserves, the allotment should provide for clear adequate time for B.A.Ss. b) distribution of engines c) grades of depots and number depots in each grade. 20. A graded depot is the basis of maintenance facilities in respect of a) types b) qualities in types c) quantities in qualities. This will enable total maintenance requirements being worked out. 21. The total power requirements and the total maintenance requirements should be compared with what exists and the types and extents of unbalance determined. 22. Emergency measures to meet the unbalance should be decided upon and rectification and subsequent development planned on a priority basis.
Home \| Top



Powered by BRAINyard