Technical Issues
Having carried out the requested inspection of the power plant of the Baldur Agricultural Chemicals (BAC) Company in Gordontown, 1450 Disraeli Crescent, I have found out the following issues that might cause the issues of the increased costs for the plant operations that served as the very reason for this inspection. The very findings can be divided into two major parts. The first part concerns the technical issues observed in the power plant, and the second part deals with the personnel issues. The present report contains a detailed account of all the issues identified and offers a brief improvement plan that might be useful for the restructuring of the Gordontwon power plant to reduce the operational costs and increase the BAC’s competitive capacities in the market of decreasing prices.
The first impression of the plant premises was of double nature. The positive effect was made by the perfect look of the premises. They so to say shined and it was obvious that the plant workers and major engineers prepared for the inspection. However, the negative effect of the same phenomenon was in the thought that such preparation might be used in the plant only for inspections and it is not a traditional practice there. Inspecting the equipment, I have found out that the maintenance logs are kept improperly. The files of the equipment are outdated and this causes the slowdowns of the plant operations. The outdated equipment is subjected to numerous breakdowns, which also takes substantial time to repair and put into the production line again.
The cleaning of the boiler is also in need of further development. Currently, this operation is ignored. The same is the situation with the flow meters updating. The flow meters currently used are working improperly and might display false data about the plant performance. The overall inspection allows assuming that the pumps and vacuum equipment maintenance is not at the proper level either. The engineers seem to be more concerned with the look of the premises during the inspection than with the plant performance on the whole. Such an attitude results in the adopted practice of effects elimination instead of preemptive maintenance. The equipment is operated without maintenance until it breaks down and is impossible to repair. The engineers decide to replace the whole units and this involves huge additional costs into the production process. Finally, the whole staff seems to be against the technological innovations, and this is already the result of personnel issues observed.
Personnel Problems
From the background information provided for the conduct of this inspection, it is known that the chief engineer of the Gordontwon power plant, Mr. Hännes, is about to retire within the next three months. His assumed successor, Mr. Markham, is also a talented engineer who has been working for the company for 20 years already. His knowledge of the company and of the plant operations is exceptional and can be relied upon. However, during the inspection certain connections of such a successive character of the chief engineer’s appointment might be one of the reasons for the power plant cost increase.
The most important point here is that Mr. Hännes has obviously prepared a talented and professional successor for his position. Mr. Markham is proud of his firm knowledge of everything that is going on in the plant, and the BAC Company definitely has a committed worker in his person. However, the tradition started by Mr. Hännes still lives on and Mr. Markham supports it. This tradition is to ignore the innovative technological or any other solutions in case if the old ones are working and if the chief engineers, namely Mr. Hännes and Mr. Markham, do not understand those technological solutions or are reluctant to consider them. This conclusion was made from the inspection results and was later confirmed by the ordinary power plant workers, who report their desire for change but are too loyal to the chief engineers to openly protest or express their ideas.
For example, the above-mentioned practice of effects fighting is the idea of Mr. Hännes who thinks it is more adequate to replace the broken parts of the equipment than to preemptively repair and maintain those equipment units. In such an approach two major threats can be observed. First of all, Mr. Hännes, as well as Mr. Markham, seems to lack outside knowledge of the processes and technological advances that take place outside their plant. Such conservatism, moreover, incurs additional expenses for the power plant as repair works of the broken parts would be much cheaper than buying new ones.
Further on, the dedication to the outdated technologies supported by Mr. Hännes slows the process of production in the power plant. Finally, the controversial situation in the personnel, on the whole, cannot positively influence the power plant performance results. The workers understand the need for change but are reluctant to express this understanding openly. Moreover, they are loyal to the chief engineer and are, probably, afraid of innovations themselves. Accordingly, the complex technological and personnel issues observed in the power plant can be viewed as the reason for the reported decrease in productivity and increase in costs.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Accordingly, the following improvement initiatives might be offered to eliminate the technological and personnel issues observed during the inspection. Firstly, concerning the technical issues, it might be recommended to investigate the maintenance logs’ state more carefully and to instruct the employees strictly to take up boiler cleaning as the regular power plant activity. To solve the issue with the flow meters, the ones in use should be checked by experts and either repaired or updated with the help of the manufacturers as soon as possible as the false flow meters’ data mislead the company in assessing the plant’s performance. As well, the preventive maintenance plan is needed by the plant to avoid spending the funds on replacing the parts of equipment instead of maintaining or timely repairing them.
The personnel issues can be solved by the training offered to the chief engineers and the ordinary plant employees. Being rather conservative, Mr. Markham, if he wants to take the chief engineer position after Mr. Hännes’ retirement, should change his position on technological innovations and equipment maintenance techniques implemented in the plant. As the loss of such an engineer as Mr. Markham will affect the company for the worse, it is necessary to direct his commitment to BAC in the correct direction and use his energy to update the plant and eliminate the issues of increased costs in its performance.