In 1981 International Harvester offered tractors with a digital dash, the day of “computers” on tractors and farm equipment had entered the main stream. Boldly displayed on the lower right hand side of the dashboard was a red light with the letters EGT. In my youth I firmly believed it meant “Engine Got’s Trouble”, later I learned it actually meant Exhaust Gas Temperature. I did know for sure though if the light came on, slowing down was in order.
I couldn’t help but think of the EGT light while working on some dairies recently. Every dairy producer, and possibly human being for that matter, wants a single simple check to see if things are working. Automobile manufacturers for years have offered check engine or oil lights in place of gauges. Simple answers to complicated situations, the holy grail of equipment design.
I was reminded later that my boys are old enough now to realize that Santa lived a little closer than the North Pole and the Easter Bunny is not a genetic mutation that allows a bunny to produce an egg.
Complicated equipment is just that, complicated, simple green or red lights to indicate success or failure is helpful when untrained people need to make a go or no-go decision, and that is where this system usually fails. If the light goes to a fail position on your dairy is the machine taken out of service or is the operator instructed to continue until the maintenance person can get time to take a look?
I am afraid that many of the dairies I have had the opportunity to work with lately fall into the keep milking, we will take a look later category. SOP’s are just that, a standard we have established and that will be adhered to with no discretion. If a dairy has monitoring equipment designed to result in a yes/no light, then the light needs to be observed as an absolute answer, deviation from that unfortunately makes not only the light useless but yields an accepted behavior that allows deviation on nearly everything else.
Most of us involved in agriculture through the ‘80’s could comment on what all went wrong at International Harvester, trust me it wasn’t the EGT lights fault. Management clearly failed, innovation came sparingly and far too late, complicated situations needed more complex answers. Let’s not repeat history, answers exist; sometimes they just require a little more time and attention.
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