The company i work for tends to have the operators jump from machine to machine theres no one machine for one operator . this method seems to reduce the life of a machine as damage gets done and the only response from the operator is it was like that when i got it funny how so much of the fleet looks rougher than it should and no body has ever damaged it:Banghead .having said that i have and one and one of the other operator has one that he runs , I,m not saying i better operator than some of the other operators but i know if i damage it i get in **** for it so mine still looks new that was mine i posted pics on before. so question is the companys you guy work for one machine one operator or not
For a long time, the company I worked for, would put the operator's name on the door of a machine saying "Operated and Maintained by John Doe". That was that guys machine and he was responsible for it's appearance, greasing, etc. It's not to say there weren't floater machines or that operators wouldn't occasionally have to jump from machine to machine, but they did have "their machine". Since the economic plunge lately, we've all had to become a lot more flexable and seemed to have gotten away from that, simply in an attempt to keep guys working. I agree, machine's tend to stay in better shape when one guy is running it day after day, but sometimes it just doesn't work like that.
We have one operator for a machine. We have some floaters but not on the backhoes or the the new dozers or really any of the new equipment. We had three D6R's that they got new in 1998 and they got rid of them last year. They had the same operators the whole time they had them.
one operator our company had the one operator per machine rule...after 8 years i finally got to be the sole operator a brand new cat 315cl and i alone put 2700 hours on it with out a scratch ,dent, worn bushing or any missing or broken parts . i greased the machine mythodically...greased the bucket and thumb 2 times per shift. allways checked the fluids and touched up any nicks i put in the body...the machine got swept out after every shift and washed and waxed once a month ...then the truck driver loaded it up in a hurry and flipped it onto its side. the entire right side of the machine is now dented in about 5 inches and the front of the frame is 3 inches higher in the front right corner than the rest of it..... i took 3 weeks out for an operation. when i came back the seat was ripped....teeth were missing,shanks worn out....bushings all sloppy..lights broken and counterweight scratched to hell...also the steps are broken off the track frame. broken arm rest in the cab .while i didnt expect my boss to park the machine and have it sit 3 weeks while i was out, i did think that the other guys in the company would respect my machine enough to take care of it. i no longer take pride in operating the machine as its now just another part of the fleet. it pisses me off when i look at it sitting there looking the way it does. i can honestly tell my boss that the machine is the way it is due to poor operators and he knows it. and now when im working in the shop on saturdays and the other ops tell me what their machines need, i tell them to come in and fix it yourself. i know its just a machine but you have one guy who babies it and keeps it like new for 2 years and it gets ruined in 3 weeks.while i understand normal wear and tear and paint damage is normal, i just wish others would treat the equipment the same way
You're not alone. We bought a new ZX120 and it was given to a deserving kid. He took great care of it and was proud to run it. I liked servicing it because it always looked great, inside and out. Then the boss decide to loan it to one of his friends. It came back with dented panels, scoured counter weight, a cabful of mud and wasn't greased. The kid let it go after that. Yeah, slip-seating has it's consequences.
We have a couple that may run the same machine anywhere from a few days to weeks. However no one, except the oldest man on the crew (73yoa) is assigned to a machine. He's not really assigned to a machine, just when there's hoe work to do, he's the primary hoe operator. It is common to run 2-3 machines in a day. I've ran a wheel loader to load the ADT I'm driving, then the loader is needed more by someone else, so I must use a rubber-tire backhoe/loader. Recently I've had to run a scraper, followed by a Bomag sheepsfoot, then a Ford/New Holland tractor (disc) / sheepsfoot roller. Or Deere 330 trackhoe, and Volvo A25C. I would give my eyeteeth to be assigned to one machine for at least a couple of weeks.. Oh I think last year I was on the ADT for 2 weeks straight..
rental fleets can tell you that multi operators are a bad idea... One of our 270's was brought out to the job ... Handrail wadded up against the body... I got on the radio, and ask a foreman to look at the machine before I even got on it... "yeah they know about it" ... The hoe driver was taking trees out , by pulling them toward the machine. one left one setting by a burn pile .... melted all the plastic on the door , turned the paint a darked yellow... It sucked to run that for about 6 months... the smell was terrible.
conversely, who would want to be stuck on the same machine every day? i kinda like bouncing around a bit.
I drive one of a dozen or so newer leased ac electric Yale 6000# and 8000# forklifts in a warehouse. Safety and equipment maintenance are monitored and very important. We can switch trucks as long as we record which one on the daily check out list. Leaving trash on one is frowned upon. Abuse one resulting in damage, and you will get a little unplanned vacation or worse. Most are kept clean and all are well maintained. No way do we tolerate ripped seats. Even new, machines have subtle personalities, good or bad. What i don't get is construction companies and the like that blow other peoples money, passing on the cost of bs because they can.
It is nice being able to run different machines, to an extent. How would you get proficient on a given machine? I have become proficient on ADTs and wheel loaders, and roller/compactors.. whoopie!!! I hate it when the super rolls up beside me. I climb down to see what he wants, only for him to say "get in". Doesn't say where you're going, what he wants you to do, until you almost get to where he's taking you. The machine is left running, but doesn't seem to matter. Don't try to convince me that you can become proficient being on a machine for a couple hours here and there!! I would think that they would want the operators to be proficient. I'll just add that since I hurt my back running a 615 (POS) scraper for 3 days, it seems that now I get to run the same machine every day, at least for the last 2 weeks... a roller..
This one is so difficult to call if you see the argument from both sides. I am with all of those who would like to see 'one man one machine', but the needs of the business more than ever need to be considered. I have always been lucky in the fact that I have been given quality equipment and tried my best to keep it that way. However I too have endured the pain of putting a couple of thousand hours on a machine only to have it sent out for a self drive hire. I really think it is the culture that a company creates and a reflection on the type of people they employ. I worked for the same person for over 11 years on some quality gear, and all of the regular operators had a machine to call 'Home', however the machines were driven by whoever was avaliable or required on the site. I have known a lot of hirers who will keep the same operator on different machines throughout a long job simply because they are good operators and they like them. However it was the culture of the company and an almost unwritten code between operators that you looked after another operators machine as if it were your own. This would usually include looking after all his tools and bits and pieces left in the machine to keeping together a hard won set of buckets that suit his needs. It really worked well and we all gained good experience on some great machinery until the self drive element started appearing. Don't get me started on the rental machine subject, but don't do it accross a good operator and expect him to polish it all out after! If you run a tight ship with good operators it is good to get them moved around a little on each others mounts, but bring rental into the mix and it's simply a matter of damage limitation!:Banghead
don't worry about it, run it how you typically would...something takes a shirt....it takes a shirt...as the owner of that piece of equipment...i want it running every available hour it can...maybe you're in the seat, maybe you're not. take your w-2....let the owner worry whether or not there's to many empty ho-ho wrappers behind the seat
right on Yup cant be too picky. We do try not to leave one with a dead battery (empty tank) for the next shift. Wrappers or the sports section don't bother me. Garbage like chicken bones, broken lights do. Birds in the warehouse also crap on the steering wheel. Some cleaning there is in order. We warehouse new engines, so the place has to be kept neat. Finally got tired of working in the weather, cold, heat. Its a soft, quiet inside job with no rookies around.
I worked for a firm who gave me a brand new zaxis 225 long reach machine which was a nice machine and i looked after it while i had it, but it went out on self drive to another dredging company and it came back with the the counterweight damaged and scratches all round it and river silt everywhere. kinda makes you lose heart in looking after them.I know they have to work but these guys don't really care(it's not mine so why should i) thats why the hire they can't afford to run their own gear because they know it would not last 5 minutes with the monkeys they put on it