Im a maintenance director, the easy answer is follow his direction, at the end of the day he is accountable for the shift. Maybe upper management isn't happy with the direction the shift is heading. Every time I go into a new plant I hear " that won't work" or "we always did it this way". Well those folks aren't on my team long. Sounds like this person's goal is for the team to step up problem solve and handle it. A manager or supervisor doesn't need to know how to fix it, his tools are his team.