(PDF, 101 mb) - USAID

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The organisation has an average gross income of about
$. 38.5 million per annum but last year made a big loss because
of great expense at the maintenance department. There has of late
been greater attention paid on the maintenance department and I
thought I got in at a good moment to witness the reorganisation at
the workshop.
I had a chance to talk to the Maintenance Manager, who explained
to me how they keep track of parts and how oil sample is taken. I
once again had a chance to attend to oil change and taking out of
oil sample from the vehicle. One striking thing I thought was quite
useful was the way the records on each individual tyres are kept.
Each tyre had a card where whatever is done on the individual tyre
is kept. Then it is very easy to follow what has happened on a
tyre and in this way avoid return of tyres. I thought the technique
would be very useful to my organisation, where of late we have
experienced high expense on tyres. Another feature is the checking
of depth of tyres using depth micrometer. So far in our organisation
we had change of tyres by looking at them. This is rather subjective
and I thought by measuring depth an objective standard would be
developed, and thereby enable us to be consistent on when to charge
the tyre.
Apart from that I think I gained a useful experience in
learning about a smaller common carrier type organisation and then
see how well it is organised. I found it useful to talk to the
maintenance and learn the techniques he is employing to cut down
the otherwise high maintenance cost that was there before.
Apart from that I had informal discussions with other people,
and learnt about how some techniques in management, and was able to
see how some private people had developed their individual
businesses. Off the official track, I think I must have had a
chance to meet some people and know how they live, and thereby a
better understanding of the American life. This informal meetings
outside office hours I think helped to shape my view of running
businesses from other people's view point, and must have give me a
wider vision to me. This gave me a chance to meet people from
various walks of life and understand how they feel about trucking
and general life.
DNO/fn .