Page 470 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong
P. 470

 CORE VALUES: CUSTOMER FIRST • INTEGRITY • EXCELLENCE • TEAMWORK • FUN
  experience, Brecheisen still hadn’t been able to figure out what was going on in the hydraulics system of Vul- can’s Carrydozer. So tonight, he fell back on a trick he’d learned at a Peterson class on hydraulic excavators years earlier. “That whole class I spent with colored pencils following the oil flow. The next time I was out on a job and couldn’t figure out what was wrong, I went back to the shop, printed out a giant schematic, and started coloring.”
At Vulcan, once they’d taped the 3x4-foot schematic to his truck, they grabbed colored pencils and started highlighting.
 Duane Jr working in the main shop at San Leandro in the summer of 2006
After observing for a couple minutes, Duane Sr. grabbed a pencil. “Hey, look at this. Look down here.”
Harden was impressed. He knew Duane Sr. had been a mechanic, but this was a way more compli- cated system than earlier generations. Yet Sr. read the schematics and picked up right where they were and understood exactly what they were doing and what they were trying to prove. He was right there handing them stuff and having fun.
After plugging into a computer and running lots of tests, they finally concluded that a piece inside the hydraulic valve needed to be replaced. At that point, they were five hours in. It was sometime after midnight, pitch black outside except for the
stars and their headlights. Duane Sr.’s wife, Sue, had long since gone home. “It’s in that valve. We’ve proven it,” said Sr., “so let’s go ahead and buy it.”
Harden looked over at him. “Yeah, but that valve is $12,000. And the only one in existence is in Melbourne. So if we’re wrong, we’re $12,000 in the hole.”
“Order it,” said Sr. “Overnight it. And as soon as it gets here, spend all night and put it in. If anybody says anything, you tell them to call me.”
The next morning, Ashley and Duane Jr. went into the shop to order the part—overnight from Melbourne, Australia.
“Who authorized that?” the back-counter partsman wanted to know. “Senior.”
“What? Why? Was he out there with you last night?”
“Yep,” Doug Brecheisen walked in just then. “Ashley’s right. Order the valve.”
468 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG
  



















































































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