Yacht Owners, Managers and Captains notice when the chef, deckhands and stewardess’s stop performing work because they lacked the motivation or resources to get the job done, so why are some engine rooms allowed to become messy dungeons when other sections of the yacht are kept to a standard?
Do people know what engineers do?
Are people scared of engineers because their hard to find or is it because people outside engineering don’t know enough about the engineers role?
Are engineers predominantly lazy and disorganized or is there a few bad eggs floating around that ruin it for everyone else?
Out of sight and out of mind
The out of sight out of mind attitude regarding the engine department on many yachts enables people to cut corners and ignore the signs and symptoms of looming problems. I find that sparkling engine rooms have clean engineers that appear to doing nothing, but the true reality of perfection is realistic standards, budgets and the systematic completion of physical work by all crew.
Management tools don’t get the work done people do
Management systems, gadgets and work lists don’t get the work done, people do and ensuring those responsible for the engine rooms receive adequate resources (time, money, material and manpower) is the responsibility of Owners, Managers, Captains and Chief Engineers.
Hidden costs of crew turn over
Crew turnover has hidden costs and if offering perks like job sharing, 13th month bonuses, family medical insurance, life insurance, superannuation and education leave is very worthwhile when you crunch the numbers.
Paying crew agents for replacement crew, travel agents, uniform suppliers, relief crew and overworking people because half the crew are on leave during yard periods is very typical in yachting, my previous employer was renowned for burning crew out and because of this I sought a more realistic program that enabled me to continue my seagoing career whilst looking after my wellbeing and the needs of my family.
Offer perks to recruit and retain good people
Employing 20% to 33% more staff whilst also defining the work process and ensuring engineers comply is what professional Captains and Managers are supposed to do.
Chief Engineers are specialist managers
Chief Engineers are specialist managers that communicate with the Captain and work with management to get the necessary resources for machinery operation, recruitment and retainment of quality people, contractors, and the completion of routine maintenance, defect repairs, consumable materials and spares parts.
Balancing management responsibilities with physical work
For the Chief Engineer a certain percentage of the day is spent performing management level tasks and the physical tasks in the engine room. Assistant engineers won’t learn from the Chief if he is not working alongside them setting the pace, monitoring progress and physically checking the true condition of the entire yacht.
Leading an engineering team requires regular training, mentoring and counseling sessions that reinforces the minimum standards of staff on and off the yacht.
Lead by example and set the standard
Leading by example is a tried and true methodology, because everything a Chief Engineer does well is a function of social responsibility, theoretical knowledge, practical experience and manual technique. Proper technique works for and against the Chief, if things look too easy and this is precisely why it is important to take assistant engineers out of their comfort zone and give them more responsibility.
Taking people out of their comfort zone does four (4) things;
1) Provides an opportunity to measure staffs competence level
2) Provides a teaching opportunity for new skills
3) Builds mutual respect through positive experience
4) Confirms the supervisors interest in staff and reinforces the Chiefs status
Good leadership technique raises standards and sustains moral, therefore the more resources applied to staff training, mentoring and counseling the greater team performance becomes.
Communication, teamwork and a proactive approach
Communication, teamwork and a proactive approach to all maintenance and repair task for the entire yacht keep standards up. In an ideal world there would only be Preventative Maintenance but unforeseen material failures and human error can never be completely eliminated, consequently daily routines should always includes Breakdown Maintenance.
A clean engine room is a safe engine room
Engineers responsible for machinery space cleanliness, a clean engine room is a safe engine room and Chiefs that roll their sleeves up and help keep machinery spaces clean set the standard for all other engineers, besides being up close and personal with the engine room is the best way to discover problems before they occur.
The accumulative nature of minor and major breakdowns very quickly devastates equipment reliability and overall quality standards when management level staff and working crew ignore their responsibilities.
Figure 1: Mathematical comparison between yachts in good, fair and poor condition and how minor and major defects consume time and money. Note this table does not include incomplete preventative maintenance routines, which are meant to prevent premature failure, through proper testing, machinery change over cycles, inspection and overhaul.
|
Yachts condition
|
Defects per day
|
Defects per week
|
Defects per month
|
Defects per year
|
% Repaired by engineers
|
Remaining work
|
Man Hours
|
Contractor hourly rate
|
Cost
|
Contractors needed
|
|
Good
|
4
|
28
|
112
|
1344
|
80%
|
268.8
|
806.4
|
$85
|
$68,544
|
6.72
|
|
Fair
|
6
|
42
|
168
|
2016
|
60%
|
806.4
|
2419.2
|
$85
|
$205,632
|
20.16
|
|
Poor
|
8
|
56
|
224
|
2688
|
40%
|
1612.8
|
4838.4
|
$85
|
$411,264
|
40.32
|
Accumulation of outstanding tasks
The accumulation of incomplete maintenance routines, unrepaired defects and improper equipment operation are all management problems. Directly blaming engineers is very easy but in all reality you can’t blame the engineer when management fails to set standards or provide sufficient resources to achieve the physical work.
· Engineers must be capable of performing the physical work and be provided with sufficient resources.
· Maintaining a yacht is a responsibly the managers, captains and engineers share.
· Management allowing detects to accumulate is a common problem.
· Placing 100% of the blame on engineers is unfair when insufficient resources are provided, having said that it’s an engineer’s job to determine what resources are needed and correctly manage technical assists.
· Which came first the bad engineer or bad management ethos?
Set and maintain standards
Failing to set and maintain standards for the engine room and engineers is the principal reason why engine rooms become messy dungeons. Consequently it comes as no surprise that yachts with immaculate engine rooms and reliable service for machinery systems have clear standards for engineering spaces and engineering staff.
Keeping one bad engineer and ignoring the true condition of machinery systems is a management failure. Captains and owners that know this make a point to visit machinery spaces and reinforce standards.
If you’re an engineer that is always being hen pecked by the Captain, maybe you should look at yourself before you call the old man a micromanager.