So let's talk about this month's tip, Bucket or Standing Work Orders. These little gems can serve a useful purpose or be very evil little pieces of paper. A broad definition is: a work order which can stay open and active, in some cases I have seen, for an entire year.  Craft personnel can charge time and parts to the little devils with no rhyme or reason. That is the bad side of Bucket Work Orders. The good side of them is to create a limited number, ten or less in "Mikes World".  No parts should ever be charged to them and the hours charged to them should be of the type you would never need to track or measure in detail. Some examples are: meetings, shop clean-up, some training, routine rounds and inspections, visiting HR, visiting the nurse, monthly fire extinguisher inspection, etc.

Remember the key to proper use of standing or bucket work orders is charging time for work tasks you would never want to track and measure in detail except for the broad fact that I spent X hours in meetings, not what type of meeting.

Good luck, talk to you next month.

Mike