Maintworld 1/2020

EDITORIAL
The COVID-19 Crisis,
a Maintainer’s View
‘NOUS SOMMES EN GUERRE!’ I can’t state any
better than the French President Emmanuel
Macron, that humanity is currently at war with
COVID-19. This type of lung infection is caused
by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is spreading
around the world after an initial outbreak in
the Chinese Wuhan region in December 2019.
Many governments are taking severe measures,
including travel bans, school closures, lockdowns
requiring people to stay at home, factory shutdowns,
etc. The world economy has been impacted
severely; stock markets colour deep red. I don’t
need to explain to you that this situation is unprecedented. Let’s look at the current
situation through the eyes of a maintenance, reliability and asset manager.
Chronicle of a Problem Foretold
Coronavirus infections have already been lurking for several years. Usually these
viruses cause relatively mild symptoms, such as colds in winter and early spring. As
a matter of fact, 5 to 10 percent of colds are caused by coronaviruses. But we knew
from the 2002 SARS and 2012 MERS outbreaks, that coronaviruses could potentially
become very dangerous. However, even after two major wake-up calls, policy
makers and companies were still not willing to make the investment in preventative
measures. We had plenty of time to develop medicines and vaccines to prevent
today's outbreak, but it just did not happen. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? How many
times do maintainers need to remind upper management that it is better to prevent
than to repent (= feel regret and remorse)? Also, the asset manager knows all
too well that the risk of doing nothing needs to be incorporated into investment
decisions. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. A small short-term gain usually
wins over over long-term benefit. As a result, we now live in times of repent.
System Overload
The risk of developing a severe COVID-19 lung infection through the Coronavirus
increases with age – for the geeks: it is a failure pattern B. Taking into account that
in Europe 18 percent of the population is aged (compared to only three percent in
Africa), hospitals are hit by an exponentially increasing number of patients.
Just as technicians are firefighting an ever-increasing number of failures
caused by overaged assets, doctors and nurses are overwhelmed by the huge demand
on intensive care. Add to this the fact there is no proper treatment and it
becomes clear we are headed for a complete health system overload.
Valuable Assets Need to be Protected
Just as it is the maintenance technicians that keep things running in a factory, it is
the doctors and nurses (and hospital technicians) who are our most valuable assets
at the front of the war against COVID-19. It goes without saying that, if we want to
win the battle, we need to protect those doctors and nurses from being infected.
Enter the facemasks. The global shortage of facemasks has revealed another major
risk in today’s society. The relentless offshoring of manufacturing has led to very
vulnerable global supply chains. If there is a single lesson to be learned from the current
Corona Crises, then it is the fact that decision takers need to do more and better
long-term thinking. All of us can help by making the right choices ourselves.
Stay healthy!
Wim Vancauwenberghe
Maintenance Evangelist
34
A
good root cause
elimination program
needs a process, practical
training in critical
thinking, and coordination
and follow-up of actions.
6 maintworld 1/2020