Question 1 - What might be some implications of reducing the cost and time invested into the current maintenance program?
I think the most obvious implication would be the safety risks. If you reduce the costs in maintain such a high speed and potentially dangerous system, you would be putting all the passengers at risk. Inspecting something every other day is extreme, but worth it when the alternative is putting citizens at risk. I also think another implication could be with the public view. This video has 1.2 million views, so a lot of people know the care that goes into it. If these were reduced and word spread, people would become very hesitant, and the system would lose value. Question 2 - Where do you think East Japan Railways maintenance effort lies on the maintenance continuum? Provide evidence to support your view.
It is hard to narrow it down to exactly one type of effort since there are so many, but I think two main ones stand out. Those are planned and predictive. We hear in the first few minutes that maintenance is preformed every other day. That type can only be described as planned. Later on, we also hear that they do a bogie task every 18 months, which also makes this planned. The video also mentions with the shafts they use data and computers to be able to sense if any cracks are present and able to maintain
that way which would make it predictive.
Question 3 - Are there any other industries or companies where you think a similar approach to “Doctor Yellow” could be applied?
So, because Doctor Yellow takes so much data and looks expensive it needs an industry where it
could do about the same. The industry that immediately comes to mind is the roller coaster industry. Similar tracks and high speeds that have potential for great risk. If you have a Doctor Yellow being able to give you data, then it would improve safety tenfold. Also, I think the tram systems like the one in Gatlinburg could also use a Doctor Yellow.
