MILITARY WORKS
8.49 This Section has a small control element at Head Office and the remainder is deployed to three Military Works Electrical and Mechanical Depots responsible for Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories respectively. Each Depot, which is supervised by a Royal Engineer Warrant Officer on secondment, has a small workshop with minor repair and test facilities and a staff of about 90 who carry out inspections, minor repairs, planned maintenance tasks, operate plant and attend fault calls. Major repairs and overhauls are carried out in the main Electrical and Mechanical Workshops in Hong Kong and Kowloon. An experienced P.W.D. Inspector ensures that there is the maximum liaison between the Depots and the Workshops and that the flow of work runs smoothly. In this way the Military Works Section provides a service for the Armed Forces which is essentially one of control and management involving electrical and mechanical equipment varying from an electric kettle to a 2-MVA Frequency Changer for the Royal Navy.
8.50 The past year has been the first full year in which the complete schedule of planned maintenance has been carried out by the staff of each Depot. The results of this planned schedule of inspection, minor maintenance, intermediate maintenance and complete overhaul are encouraging. There are indications of a reduction in fault calls and urgent minor repairs. The programme has also resulted in pinpointing obsolete and uneconomical equipment which can be replaced by new and standard items. This, in turn, will result in better service and lower costs in the future.
8.51 An increase in the scale of air-conditioning for the Armed Forces led to a large increase in the number of room coolers and packaged air-conditioning units in use during the past year. This imposed an additional load on the depot staff and workshops not only in repair and maintenance but also in carrying out many of the new installations for the Government Building Services Engineer. That this additional work was readily undertaken was an indication of the increased efficiency brought about by the introduction of planned maintenance.
8.52 The integration of most of the former depot workshop facilities with the main E. & M. Workshops at Caroline Hill and Sung Wong Toi was continued and fully completed. Again, this step seems to have paid dividends as there has been no breakdown of major equipment in the past year.
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