In my last month of internship at Schindler, we were working for the final tests and last replacement of the hardware parts that were needed to do so as we had to hand over all of the elevators in the blocks 3 and 4 soon to the project owner. It was 3 days before the opening ceremony. There are 6 elevators in those blocks and we were a group of 4. Therefore, we separated into teams of two and took responsibility for each block. Everything went well with the lifts in our block and we finished before 4 pm. However, one of the lifts in another block faced major system breakdown. After changing roller wheels of carriage and motherboard on top of that, that elevator did not run anymore. It was working well before and those changes were done according to the regulations of our company. The possibilities for this failure include improper working of roller wheels. Therefore, they took off the wheels and put them back. Unfortunately, it was not a solution. As it is urgent and we need to hand over all the elevators in the afternoon of the next day, we started feeling frustrated. And so, my teammate and I joined them and tried to help them. At that time, we did not doubt the motherboard as it was a totally new one. We managed two to find out the problem by using the error codes received from the system unit in the overhead compartment, but, no significant error was mentioned that we needed to pay attention. Another two teammates took responsibility to find out the problem by following up other hardware. Until dinner time, we could not find out the problem and the solution. As it could take overnight, we decided two to work at a time while the other two were taking rests. Each section took 3 hours. During the first 3 hours, we could find out that the replaced motherboard was not working well. As we could not use the old one back and it is impossible to order another one, we tried to fix it up. After two sections at 3 am, our T&C manager came to the site and all of us decided to give up on fixing up it and we thought about an alternative solution. That is using the motherboard from the elevators in blocks 5, 6 and 7. At that time, those blocks were still being constructed and the elevators were in the installation stage. So, all the boards were still unused and new at that time. In order to do so, we had to ask the manager of the installation department know and the installation team working there for permission. As it was an urgent condition, they allowed and after replacing the motherboard again, the elevator performed perfectly. We had to put the commands again in that motherboard in order to fit with that elevator. At 6 am, everything was successfully done and we felt relief and we could comfortably go back home to take a nap. Our manager let us arrive back late on that day as he knew that we had to work the whole night. We all took pride on of working hard and successful results.
In this incident, the ability of orderly managing ourselves and tasks played the most important role. Although it took a long time to get the solution, it can be seen that we did follow the procedures and stages in order and we did not shirk in it. We tried to fix the faulty part instead of a sudden replacement with another one. In the stage of requiring another replacement with the hardware owned by another department, we responsibly asked the authorities of that department. We all had a clear conscience for not following the unrecommended easy route in finding a solution. Our manager felt proud for what we did and our performance and other authorities from our head office also thanked for working overtime with our conscience. We kept the tradition of completing every task on time.
From this incident, I got knowledge of the importance of managing skills. While working hard in a time limit, taking rest is also important in gaining the best performance. Therefore, in a certain condition, we have to differentiate shifts on our own. Moreover, in cross-communication and cross-working, it is very important to follow the procedures, and therefore, we can reduce unwanted consequences. For example, if we acknowledged the installation department about that replacement, there would be a waste of time for finding out the missing motherboard for them and our department will lose the trust of others. In my future career, I will always try to help my team in managing the tasks to make sure that all the processes are carried out in the allowed time. If required, I will throw myself in the workplace for all day and night. I have learnt about all those skills in that workplace and I will never let my employers and their image down. It is a great pleasure to hear “I am proud of you and your performance” from the leaders and I will always try to get those words again and again in the future.