As a long-time admirer of Igor J. Karassik, the author and editor of several pump handbooks, I am impressed by his observations of people in the workforce and their work habits. Lately, I have had many occasions to witness some of the same things, and with all due respect to Karassik, I would like to enlarge on some of those observations.

Every industrial plant in the world has at least one self-appointed and self-trained “expert” in the art of finger diagnostics. They can be seen walking around equipment like doctors walking around hospitals making their rounds. They even have that “I know what I’m doing” look on their faces and can distort their faces into the “Oh my God, what have we here” look when something crops up that they don’t understand. Do you know of one, or are you one?

These people should be identified and informed of the consequences of their actions because they are spending a lot of time doing unnecessary, wasteful, often dangerous and sometimes very destructive things.

The walking infrared sensor constantly checks bearing temperatures with the palm of his hand to determine if a bearing is too hot. Most knowledgeable operators use the back of their hands because it is more sensitive to temperature than is the palm, but this is still only a rough guide. Unfortunately, the finger analyst often declares an emergency that can result in shutting the machine off to perform unnecessary maintenance.

This person cannot resist the urge to tighten pump glands up when a trickle of water is leaking from a compression-packing gland. He always carries his trusted adjustable wrench or slip-joint pliers with him (you never know when you might need one), tightens the gland up and stops the leak. He never stays long enough to see the gland fire up as he walks off seeking new areas where he can perform another “good deed”. Remember, compression packing in glands is very much like a sleeve bearing; and like a sleeve bearing, it must be cooled and lubricated if it is to run properly. That is why there should always be a slight trickle of water running from the shaft area.

Always remember there is a 25% chance that another fault can be created if maintenance has to be repeated on a job just completed. With this in mind, when maintenance tasks are performed with no specific procedures for guidance, mistakes often happen when the “expert” forgets to set an important clearance because of the “near enough is good enough” attitude often acquired when no guidelines are followed, or when supervision doesn’t care. When pump casings or gearboxes are opened for inspection, a wise maintenance person or operator will always empty their pockets of objects that might fall into a sump or pump casing. People will often give up on trying to retrieve fallen objects and never report what happened. Consequently on startup of the equipment, that fallen object causes a failure. Maintenance-caused problems can be averted when rules are enforced to protect the machine and its components from negligent people who should know better.

“Fingers” has a relative who is endowed with super-sensitive fingers that can determine vibration and its amplitude by simply laying his finger on a bearing housing or a pump casing. One known “expert” could determine that a machine was out of balance by simply placing his fingers on the coupling guard. With a wizard like that, who needs an expensive vibration analyzer?

These vibration experts are still working on how they can determine vibration frequency measurements. Heaven help us if they ever do! This vibration expert can determine the degree of vibration amplitude by simply placing a quarter loosely between his knuckles and by feel, judge the degree of vibration more accurately.

“Fingers” is also qualified in gauge tapping. A pressure or temperature gauge is irresistible to him and is supposed to respond to his tapping. Maybe he taps in code because he always seems to be satisfied that whatever he did worked. He specializes in gauges whose needles are swinging wildly and taps hard enough to break the glass in his efforts to stabilize the fluctuations. “Fingers” should call in his vibration relative to see if resonance might be the problem. Maybe a little more stiffness or added mass may correct the needle’s fluctuations. If pressure in the system was fluctuating as wildly as the needle in the pressure gauge was, the problem will not be corrected by tapping on a gauge glass. It would be time to do something drastic to correct the situation. If the “expert” were asked what steps he would take to resolve the problem, he would probably reply, “Great big ones!” and promptly disappear.

Another relative of “Fingers” is rather unique, as he has calibrated eyeballs and can align couplings by sighting along the coupling halves with his naked eye. It doesn’t seem to matter that it is not the coupling rims that must be aligned but the axes of the shafts. There again, how can you align something like the axes when you can’t physically see them? This fellow needs to have “Fingers” use his thermal detection abilities to determine thermal rise and other requirements for a more accurate method of alignment. In all fairness to the alignment “expert,” the machinery manufacturer encourages the “ruler and eyeball” approach to aligning shafts by printing technical instructions to that effect, even in this day of using laser and reverse dial indicated alignment procedures.

Another “expert” carries a lever-operated grease gun around the plant like a gunslinger with his six-shooter. The grease gun is a very efficient tool when used properly; but in the hands of an “expert,” it can become a lethal weapon. The standard instruction that is often given to some grease gun slingers is to put grease in until the grease pours out. Excess grease is responsible for more bearing failures than any other maintenance practice as it causes the bearing to heat up, pressurize and escape through damaged seals. The “expert” thinks that more grease is better, so he adds more shots for good measure. Unfortunately, the “expert” becomes obsessed with his ability and greases every bearing in sight - including sealed bearings.

Production supervisors assume the role of maintenance “expert” when they dictate how long maintenance people should take to do repair work. Like the well-intentioned spinster who writes about motherhood, they most likely have not performed any maintenance and probably never will. They are, in fact, contributing to potential failures that could otherwise be avoided by allowing maintenance to have enough time to do the job properly. There always seems to be enough money and time available to do unscheduled repair work, but never enough to do the job right the first time.

Most purchasing departments have their fair share of “experts” who determine what parts have to be purchased by adhering to the general rule that the lowest bidder gets the contract. Parts that are “equivalent to” the design-specified part are often purchased. As a rule, the buyers are not engineers and do not seem to know that those unspecified parts can create problems. Substitution should not be tolerated. Buyers often keep all of the manufacturers’ technical instruction manuals when new equipment is purchased and are very reluctant to hand copies over to the maintenance department. Consequently, as there are no guidelines available for reference, people become “experts” and mistakes happen. It is generally accepted in plants that once a person has done a job, right or wrong, he is the recognized “expert.” Root-cause failure analyses has often found this to be the main cause of recurring problems by finding out when the problem started and who was associated with the job at that time. This should, under no circumstances, be cause for anyone’s dismissal when RCFA determines they were the cause of the problem. It simply means that the persons concerned require training to overcome the indicated skill deficiency.

These “experts” are not a figment of the imagination. These people are around, and they exist in management as well as in operations and maintenance. These people should be identified and properly trained to understand what they are doing and the implications of their actions. When everyone works by following approved and realistic procedures, their efforts will result in a more productive and safer plant, with an added bonus of being in control of their future.