FROM THE PUBLISHER
SOCIAL MEDIA AND TOOL CONTROL
As with many people that use social media, I’ve become a somewhat frequent user of Facebook as a means to communicate with friends and family.
PUBLISHER
GREG NAPERT
gnapert@DOMmagazine.com
In addition to the Facebook page in which D.O.M. communicates with our readers (
www.facebook.com/ dommagazine), I also use my personal Facebook account for business use. From a personal standpoint, Facebook allows me to keep up with my family — many of whom are spread out around the country. I would never know what they are doing were it not for Facebook. From a business standpoint, Facebook allows me to keep in touch with some of my clients and friends that I have met in the aircraft maintenance industry. I have also joined several groups related to aircraft maintenance including Proud to be a Mechanic, Aircraft Maintenance, Grumpy Old Aircraft Mechanics, Knuckle Busters, Aircraft Maintenance Engineers and others. These groups can be a great way to stay on top of what’s happening in the industry. I’ve also found that these groups can be useful for sharing what is referred to as “tribal knowledge” about repairs, parts failures, tooling and more! No, you certainly cannot use Facebook as “approved data,” but you can get directed quickly to the possible cause of a problem or a solution. If it makes things faster or easier, why not? One of the strongest potentials for
these groups is the sharing of equipment failure/problems that can keep mechanics on top of their game! For example, just yesterday, someone posted some cracked valve guides on a Cirrus that only had 400 hours and asked if anyone else had noticed this happening. A discussion ensued about the potential causes of this pre-mature failure that included everything from too aggressive leaning by the pilot to incorrect seating of the valves and valve guides during manufacturing! This is information that you can’t “read in the manual,” and
is good to know if you work on Cirrus aircraft! If you are the type of mechanic that
likes to learn, I would recommend joining and participating in as many of these groups as possible. Who knows, someone in these groups may even alert you to job openings and/or career opportunities! The possibilities are endless.
In our Dec/Jan issue, I wrote a column
called “Get Your Tools Under Control.” After I wrote the column, I had several discussions with mechanics who said they were “forced” to shadow their tools in their box as a part of their job requirement — some of them because the company they worked for had a military contract (and tool control is a requirement in many military contracts), and some because it was company policy — it was directed by upper management. What I have found as I discuss tool
control with mechanics and visit aircraft maintenance facilities is that the idea of tool control is ignored by most mechanics unless it is mandatory! Some see it as an expense they don’t want to incur if they don’t need to. Some see it as too complex and don’t like the idea that they would have to remove and take home many of the tools that they just don’t use! So the responsibility for tool control sits in the maintenance manager’s lap. It’s a simple fact that most mechanics aren’t going to take responsible for instituting a tool control program if it’s left up to them! Tool control is CHEAP INSURANCE! Go out today and buy some foam for your mechanics. Set aside a few hours and provide them with some basic guidelines on what you expect them to achieve. And fi nally, make it a requirement for their continued employment. I hope to hear about your success stories
soon. Thanks for reading! Greg Napert, Proud to be an A&P
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DOMmagazine.com | mar 2017
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