machines and maintainability

maintainability in the meaning of the word, what's needed to keep the machine running for a long time

not a specifical game related post of mine, only some thoughts of a silkscreenprinter who maintained his machine self.

imagine the printing machines as huge as a truck, no "toys", this in advance.

i was thinking a bit about that and what means maintainability to me as a engineer or keeper of a machine, like servicing them.

a little history (once more)

we had for many years in the textile industry machines controlled with simple logical circuits build from relays, a reliable and managable system.

relays do not fail (yes, they do sometimes)

if one fails, easy, i replace the burned relay, machine runs, all clear

time has changed, already when i still was a little younger

they put computercontrolled machines on the market,

of course our factory as a leader in textile printing must have had one, no question.

but i as the printer was never satisfied with them, why?

first the result is the same, a high quality printing (my question always was, what it's good for if it isn't better? evil tongues would say to give a programmer a job)

adjusting of the computer controlled machine is difficult and in general computers are sensitive unlike relays, they are sensitive to mechanical influence, sensitive to heat, sensitive to electrical fields.

imo in the wrong place in a industry where it's steady hot, wet, and a lot mechanical forces shook the machines, which is bound to the way the machine works, with large electromagnets that pull on very large rubber band and some moving steel cylinders.

we had a lot of problems with the new machine, of course it was a new technology, but above listed forces won't disappear in a 100 years, it's bound to the work, it can't be done "soft", like in a test case, workers wear no lab coats 😉 you have to produce not to test. money's got to be made.

but worst of all was, i couldn't maintain my machine myself no longer.

if my machine stood still, i had to wait for the "specialist", a programmer, god you waited a long long time for them, it seems they arn't in a hurry.

4 hours at least until he arrived and connected his computer to my machine, test runs begun, yet another and another, one day was easy lost.

it was my time what was lost, my "ride writer" stood still. you could easy say it was my responsability...

finally we got it running, but it's not unfair to say until next month.

if i think it has cost me a relay and a little work before, perhaps ten minutes or so...

i have to add that they invested a lot of time (weeks) in making the impulse smoother, the idea or hope was to get rid of the mechanical forces. but well finally it was still a electromechanical thing with the named large electromagnets and heavy steel cylinders, no chance to get that really soft, however soft the impulse is.

this is maintainability for the engineer, ordinary, safe, reliable technology which i can service with a "swiss army knife"

complex "hidden" systems are imo anything else rather maintainable, but well perhaps one could see that from a different point of view.

perhaps 200 relays look chaotical and the chip is a nice cute "insect" compared to it, but maintainability?

without the programmer i was lost, no help, that thing will never run.