Catch Up, Keep Up, and Plan AheadAuthor(s): Herbert P. OrlandSource: Sewage and Industrial Wastes, Vol. 22, No. 12 (Dec., 1950), p. 1625Published by: Water Environment FederationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25031479 .

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THE OPERATOR'S CORNER Conducted bt Hebbebt P. Obland

CATCH UP, KEEP UP, AND PLAN AHEAD

Is your plant one of those that still has war-born "deferred" maintenance,

perennially delayed or put off because

of a hope that high wage and material costs will some day miraculously re

turn to what is nostalgically called

''normal' ' ? Or is it one of those whose

physical condition and financial situa

tion is such that there is a multiplicity of minor maintenance items simply be

ing put off from day to day because of

lack of money, man power, or plan

ning ? Both these categories of "deferred"

maintenance no longer have a place in plant management. World affairs are in such a state that peace may be

rudely shattered again at any time.

Preparation for added defense require ments puts on each individual manager the responsibility of seeing that there

is no "deferred" maintenance at his

plant. In an essential service such as

sewage or industrial wastes treatment, to enter the period of uncertainty now

facing us with essential maintenance,

repairs, or replacements unfinished, let

alone unstarted, is to blindly ignore the aggravations and frustrations of

the past ten years. No one wants to

be caught again with "too little too

late!" As a part of the general prepared

ness program advance plans also should

be made for more flexible operation to

meet emergencies, particularly those

resulting from war-born circumstances.

Plans for handling overloads, equip

ment or power outages, personnel shortages, etc., should be drawn up

ready for immediate implementation when needed. Maintenance and op erational inventories, as previously pointed out in these pages (This Jour nal 22, 11, 1482; Nov., 1950), should be built up to safe points on a sound, sensible basis.

All this planning has probably been done to some degree or other at almost

every plant. Nevertheless, there doubt less are very few plants where anyone

but the head man knows what is

planned in the several directions men

tioned, and even fewer where the plans are intelligibly down in black and

white for the guidance of a possible ''pinch hitter." If something should

happen to you today, would the man

taking your place have any idea at all as to what you were trying to do ?

Yesterday is gone?but yesterday's effects are still with us, even if only in

memory. This alone should be a strong incentive to get caught up and to keep caught up with maintenance affairs, and to plan soundly for the future. It is just as much a part of that plan

ning, however, to keep it alive and pro vide the flexibility needed to "roll with the punches,'' as it is to provide op erational flexibility against plant shock loads. Let no day pass without doing something to reduce the deferred main tenance requirements at your plant !

H. P. 0.

1625

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