Which language do you speak?

A bit confusing title? Huh....... who cares! NO ... YOU have to be careful. After all, it will reflect in the job you do.

It doesnt matter which language you speak till you can understand and speak the language of engineers। And what is the language of engineers?

Well, drawing is the language of engineers.

In day-to-day of professional life, we come across a lot of drawings. Normally, these are the orthographic projection of the equipment in 3 planes. The visible edges are represented by lines. The hidden edges and centre lines are represented by dotted lines. Important dimensions are given and some less important dimensions need to be derived. The important conventions are given in the bottom right corner.

Orthographic projections can be either in first angle or third angle projections. They are represented as follows:

Another system of drawing is the isometric projection. It is somewhat a 3D image of the equipment which shows only the visibe planes. It is made to visualize the actual object and is rarely used in day-to-day engineering.

The Maintenance attitude

While working in the maintenance group of any industry, it is better to develop the maintenance attitude. This is the only way to be successful in managing the downtime and your customer! How to do it? Well, just keep your common sense working all the time.... that's all!

Know your process: In whatever industry you are working, your best tool will always be the complete knowledge of the process. If you are conversant with the ins and outs of your process, you can always maintain it well.

Know your equipment: The thorough know-how of the equipment and their specific maintenance requirements is also a must. If possible, keep a set of drawings, list of spares and list of suppliers along with lead time. All this comes handy during breakdowns.

Know your people: All the fingers are not the same. Same is applicable to people. Each one of us is specifically talented in different areas. Identify the strengths of your team and utilize them effectively.

Be ready for challenges and strive for the complete satisfaction of your customer (your operational people). Use all your five senses. The best part of being in the mechanical maintenance is that you can see almost everything. Equipments warn you before failing. The worst part is, we usually ignore the warnings and after the failure, the entire effort goes into putting the ball in others court!

Sharing is fun!

In our day to day work life, we face many situations when small things we ignore come to our rescue. I'll share some basics of maintenance facts in my coming posts. It may be useful, it may not be! I don't care. For me, sharing is fun!