08 December 2011 - Second Post of the Day

After lunch, a QM called me up. Informing me that the track link for 460-3 is damaged faily badly. He asked me to sort out the rental of second uncles Caterpillar 330 that are currently parked at the quarry. As i am not personally close with second uncle, unlike Eldest, I naturally asked him to give second uncle a call and ask him what are the arrangements he would like. However, instead of sorting it out, he asked me is it necessary to repair the track link at this point. He gave me an example, citing that most quarry operators in Ipoh use the track link (machine included) until they break and due to replacement. At that point of time, i just nodded. He then asked to call back the QM and ask for a report to a accident which had happened a week ago.

After a long thought, its 12.11AM now, i realise what the QM requested was very much legitimate. 1.) If we repair the track link before it finally breaks, then we don't have replace the track shoes or track links. Other wise, we may have to change both track shoes and links which may lead to higher costs and longer downtime.

2.) If we operate like most quarries in Ipoh, then what are the added advantage that SPH have? We have always pride ourselves with excellent maintenance of the machine, why is this different?

This gave me the impression that Eldest does not want to solve the problems for this QM and seem to want to make his life more difficult. However, i am not in a position to discriminate against any QM for any reasons and the only problem i see for not managing the QM's request and problems is the decrease in production.