Attention:  All Maintenance Managers

Maintenance Tips and Tricks Suggestion Box
 
Hi Maintenance Folks – Do you remember back when you first started working in Maintenance? How much you knew about repairs back then, compared to how much you’ve learned since? Could you imagine if you knew then what you know now? I’ll bet that it would’ve made life a whole lot easier and more productive.
 
Learning at the Start
 
Speaking from personal experience, I can recall when I first started out as a painter/porter, I used to spend time at the end of each day cleaning out my paint brushes and rollers. This wasn’t a significant amount of time, but it was daily, and my brushes would never come completely clean causing them to wear out quickly. Flash forward about a year to when I met a much more experienced Maintenance person who explained to me that since we consistently paint the same color day in and day out, there’s no need to go through the cleaning process and to simply try wrapping them in a plastic bag and toss it in the fridge for the night so it’d be ready to go first thing in the morning. I was skeptical at first, but sure enough this worked great, eliminated that daily cleanup effort and extended the life of my brushes. Another great trick that I heard about more recently was clamping a supply line before removing it, this is very useful when trying to remove a dishwasher and avoiding all that water from spilling onto the floor.
 
Sharing Tips, Tricks and Best Practices
 
These are just a few examples of the power gained from sharing tips, tricks and best practices among one another. In the continued spirit of progression within the Maintenance operation, we’re looking to tap into your years of experience to begin sharing some of the tricks that you’ve learned throughout your career.
 
No Tip Is Too Small
 
Please take a moment to think about some of those life-changing tips that someone once showed you, or perhaps you’ve developed yourself, and pass those on! No tip is too small. Here is a quick link to submit some of your ideas: Maintenance Tips and Tricks Suggestion Box
 
Our intention is to use your suggestions to develop a video series that will be shared company-wide (of course giving credit to those who made the suggestions). On that note, we encourage you to submit your tips in video form, using your cell phone. Don’t worry about making them perfect, we will edit them down the road. We’d also like to start including these short videos into our weekly e-hour agendas.
 
Let’s start sharing!
 
If you have any questions, or to submit a video, please email SSteele@essex.com.