[BC] Dealing with the Brain Challenged

[Mike McCarthy]

Actually, this is sadly true in today's business climate and it's not
limited to radio/broadcasting. There are many businesses extending or zero
base budgeting nominal maintenance intervals.

Except for regulatory compulsory maintenance (eg. aircraft), maintenance
practices have been stretched as much as they can be everywhere. Instead
of 5,000 miles on an oil change, 6,000 on car which will be kept for
>100,000 miles/7+ years instead of 60,000/5 years. Instead of annual oil
changes on gensets, 18-24 months depending on use.

Extend air filter change intervals from planned monthly to bi-monthly or
longer/as needed when the filter shows a specific loading.

Tower light bulbs. Instead of planned annual swaps, run until they fail. 
In my case, I bought H&H bulbs for a station and they're still going 2+
years later. Compared to a planned annual swap, that so far has saved me
$2000. If they last another year, double that amount.

All in all, zero based budgeting isn't a completely bad thing.

It's a tricky balance. In the old days, a thumping pinch roller is easily 
heard on the air and a good show and tell. After a couple of those,
managers quickly learned the pinch roller was a necessary consumable with
a limited and generally definable lifespan. Same with playback heads.
Those were an unescapable ongoing expense.

Hardrives too are a consumable. Problem is they're not at all easy to pin
down a projected failure except when it's failing or already has. Thus,
managers cringe at the prospect of a planned PM HD swap cost (mostly labor
to rebuild a machine if it's the C drive being replaced) on a machine
already operating without any outward signs of pending failure.

The same is true on many non-mechanical devices. The MTBF is an order of
magintude higher than previous generation mechancical devices and managers
know this. So they figure every year they're going/hope to escape a major
failure.  It's a gamble.  Some based on guts, others based on more
analytical approach (think actuarial.)

MM

>> ... Maybe it's because Management sees talent as a profit center
>> and engineering as a cost center.
>
>     I wonder if that isn't just another of the many "business legends".
> How
> many managers actually view maintenance of the plant that provides them
> with
> a living wage as a problem?
>
>     I may be simple, but I believe that anyone that truly holds that
> opinion
> is too stupid to be doing the job they've (apparently) been hired to do,
> and
> soon won't be.
> Dave Dunsmoor