What would you do?

[Inferno]

option C, get it done, if it works, move on. If it doesn't then can it be modified to make it work...

let's get it done and working.

In the Airplane business, they can't do this.. it has to be an original certified part. And I am sure in the medical field probably the same.
But in all non- life and death situations... get it working.

Having a relative that's an airline pilot, I can verify that's true. Unfortunately the pilots know this so they, often, won't note a problem with an aircraft until after they've landed. The problem might be there when taxiing to the runway for takeoff but they won't say a word because the plane will be immediately taken out of service and it will ruin their uptime.

I saw a plane full of passengers taking off a week ago. There was so much black smoke coming from the left engine that I thought it was on fire. It was a giant cloud as he pressed the lever forward and the smoke trailed as far as the eye could see.
Driving past as the black cloud dissipated, I smelled the very distinct smell of raw jet fuel. Almost smells like kerosene.
I thought the plane would circle round and land but, nope.

If a company isn't running some ISO format, or other regulated program, uptime is paramount. Technically speaking, where I work, we are supposed to not operate machines with temporary repairs. It's a voluntary certification program though so we are free to "violate" if we choose.

As said previously, there's got to be some deeper reason why the MM gets away with what he does. He might just have them brainwashed into thinking they're lucky to have him because he keeps things running. They've never worked outside the business. It's a hand-me-down so the owners don't have much, first hand, real world, experience with other management styles. I can tell them, til I'm blue in the face, that there are far better more knowledgeable, Maintenance Managers out there that would run circles around this one but he kind of came with the company and that's all they know.

 

[rabler]

This seems to be as much or more a problem with the owners as with the MM.

I can see why a MM might get tired of fixing other people's hacks and want some limitations on who fixes things. Sounds like the MM has taken that policy too far and is using it as an excuse for being lazy. But when machines can be randomly pulled out of service at his whim, makes no sense. The owners should be listening.

 

[EricB]

What we learned from the "Just in Time" philosophy was don't keep a stock of parts sitting in the shelves tying up capital. What we didn't learn was keep high failure rate spares on hand along with a cushion of materials to keep production going.

 

[mmcmdl]

SAP = Stop All Production also .