As a supervisor, you will control (1) tools, (2) testequipment, (3) consumables, (4) safety equipment, and(5) other materials specific to your work center. There-fore, you must respect your personnel by having thecorrect material available for them to perform theirpreventive and corrective maintenance without delayscaused by lack of material.MATERIAL CONTROL.— The most effectiveway to control material assets is to maintain account-ability. Mass issuing of tools to all work-center per-sonnel represents a major expense, and it usually meansthe tools will not be available when needed.Loaning test equipment items to every work centerthat wants to borrow them may mean that the equipmentwill not be in the correct spaces when you need it. Asthe supervisor, you should always be willing to helpothers, but you must have a system to keep track ofmaterial assets.You may make a simple equipment checkout logcontaining item description, serial number, work center,name of the person to whom the item is checked out,date loaned out, date returned, and space for the lender’sinitials. Logging this information will allow you to tracktools borrowed and returned. However, this accountabil-ity system works only if everyone uses it.Tools are government property and, as such, areaccountable items. Thousands of dollars are needlesslyspent on tools each year because tools are misplacedor are carelessly left lying around to be lost or stolen.better methods of arranging the workspace. This, inturn, should result in more-efficient working conditions.Consider each area on a case-by-case basis. Brack-ets, stowage bins, book shelves, and collapsible work-benches may be installed in an amazing number ofplaces that previously may have been overlooked.Involve all your people in the planning.If you are fortunate enough to be involved in theplanning stages of a division maintenance area, youshould consider the following items:Is adequate lighting available?Are adequate 60-Hz and 400-Hz (if applicable)power receptacles available?Is the layout of the work center the most effec-tive use of the space?Are special safety devices or safety precautionsneeded in the work center?Is the parts storage area centrally located to allworkstations?These are just a few of the questions that you shouldask. The only limits to how well a space can meet yourneeds are the space available and your ingenuity andimagination. If space is available, you should be ableto develop the plans for an efficient work area.TRAININGSpace AssetsSometimes it seems as if combat systems/weaponsspaces are designed by people who will never have touse them for maintenance. Ashore, the facilities are nor-mally adequate to provide proper maintenance. Aboardship, however, there is little space that is not dedicatedto some vital function.As a supervisor, you may feel there is little you cando about the inadequacies of your division spaces.Sometimes this may be true; but, in most cases, if youanalyze the situation carefully, you can usually deviseTraining for personnel may be either formal or in-formal, either off site or on site. As a supervisor, youwill spend a good part of your time training your workforce or arranging for training. Much of this trainingis informal, such as showing a new technician how toalign or adjust a radar repeater or how to use a technicalmanual.A good training program is balanced. The bettertrained your work force is, the more readily your divi-sion can perform the required maintenance with whichit is tasked.3-16
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