|
Recently I've received
several letters on an issue I've been struggling to come to
grips with for quite some time, so allow me to share excerpts
from them with you.
The first is from
Lee M. Clark, operating engineer with Jordan Contracting Inc.
in Anaconda, MT:
I've been watching
the evolution of blade technology, and while I'm not opposed
to the refinements it brings to the construction world,
I find it troubling when a company owner or publication
suggests that there are no more good bladehands out there
anymore. I am in my third year of steady blade time, and
while I know that is a drop in the bucket for the amount
of time it takes to be a proficient bladehand, I am just
as passionate about my work as were the operators before
me. I am also aware that while many people my age aren't
looking to construction for challenge, still there are highly
skilled people in the operating end of the field. Yes, there
is a shortage of them, but allowing operators to hide behind
a GPS or laser system discredits the task that people like
myself [with] bladehandling skills take seriously. I am
not trying to stand in the way of technology - that would
be futile. I believe, however, that an operator should be
able to get to the finished product by what he or she sees,
feels, hears, and smells first before getting into GPS and
laser systems.
And this one from
Mrs. Melvin L. Drewery, whose husband works for the Blair
Brothers Construction/Paving Company in Suffolk, VA:
I knew my husband
was proud of his work and his title of Fine Grade Motor
Grader Operator, but the significance of the title really
didn't sink in until I read the article "Sizing
Up Motor Graders" by Greg Northcutt in the January/February
2003 issue.
My
husband was trained by the military on every piece of heavy
equipment the service operated, but he knew that it was
the motor grader he wanted most to master. Once out of the
military, he went to work for a local construction company
where, when he was asked for the first time to perform fine
grading, he actually shocked the company's owner by accomplishing
the task without a string line. Then and there he gained
the title of Fine Grade Motor Grader Operator.
There isn't a
single piece of equipment in the inventory he can't operate
with the best of them. He can dress up a haul road with
a bulldozer better than many others can with a grader. He
says it's because his heart is in what he is doing. "You
have to want to be the best to be the best"
is his motto.
The article said
it was easier to get a grader than a skilled operator, and
my husband agrees wholeheartedly. If there were grader competitions
for my husband to enter, I would put all my money on him.
The other day when he finished a fine-grading job, a man
came over and said, "You handle that equipment like a doctor.
You are definitely a ground surgeon." Not given to bragging,
he just thinks of this sort of excellence as his job.
Pride in Accomplishment:
The Real Bottom Line
First I want to
thank our readers for their comments on our coverage of "productivity
enhancements," especially since it's easy to misunderstand
their real role in the dirt-moving business. Yes, they offer
real, bottom-line, moneymaking contributions to a company's
balance sheet - that they can pay for themselves again and
again in operational performance and that helps free workers
for other more valuable tasks than driving stakes in the ground.
Yes, they can help less experienced operators do a better
job. But productivity enhancements by themselves cannot replace
or match the value of a skilled bladehand. Anyone who believes
they can is ignoring a factor of critical importance to both
the business owner and the equipment operator - personal satisfaction.
To the extent these
enhancements are viewed as helpful tools, I champion them
and think them invaluable, but we should never wish or expect
them to replace or stand in the way of the actions of the
operator. There are a number of reasons for this, the most
important being the sense of pride and achievement that can
come only from knowing that it is our skill that has
accomplished a task; otherwise, why should we care about a
job, or even coming to work in the first place?
Finally, in your
capacity as a business owner, if the people who work for you
can't point to a completed project and say with a measure
of pride, "You see that? That's my work," they're not getting
one of the fundamental benefits of their chosen occupation,
and you're not getting the full return on your investment
in them and your equipment.
Send
John an Email
GEC
- May/June 2003
|
