Lubricant procurement is not the largest expenditure in a typical maintenance budget. However, it is viewed as a real, tangible expense that is frequently targeted for cost reduction. When it comes to lubricants, it is unwise to pretend to save money by “buying cheap.”

Lubricants are the lifeblood of your machinery. Your machines’ life expectancy depends largely on the quality and state of these lubricants to bathe heavily loaded frictional surfaces. This also goes for investing in quality technologies and tools used in your lubrication program (such as routing software or automated lubricators) to promote efficiency. Optimum reliability and lubrication must go hand in hand.

Now that you are aware of the perils of poor-quality lubricants and lubrication, let’s take a look at the many opportunities to reduce lubricant spending without compromising reliability. Start by writing a simple lubricant specification for each machine.

Don’t rely solely on the recommendations of the equipment supplier or service manual. Instead, be bold and challenge generic or generalized statements relating to viscosity and lubricant formulation.

Once again, there is a need for caution. I’m not suggesting willy-nilly lubricant changes in an effort to enhance reliability by trial and error. There is always risk associated with changing lubricants. Smart practices, though, can quickly overcome these dangers. Risk should be respected but not feared.

The lubricant specification should be aligned with the optimum reference state for machine reliability. In constructing this specification, you should understand machine failure modes and overall machine criticality as a foundation to defining a machine’s precise lubricant needs.

There is a vast number of lubricant types available from both major and independent suppliers. Navigating the maze of options can be daunting but often very worth the effort. Find help if needed.

Reducing lubricant spending requires change and initiative. For many organizations, the low-hanging fruit is obvious. Below are five effective strategies for reducing your annual lubricant spending.

The post Five Ways to Reduce Lubricant Spending appeared first on Tesibis.

After a short bedding-in time at an elevated temperature, which allows the base oil and additives to chemically and physically interact, the mixtures are ready to be inspected and tested further. If floc, sediment, clouding or discoloration develops from the mixtures, the lubricants are confirmed to be incompatible (tier-one test) without further analysis. If this doesn’t occur, then another tier of testing should be seriously considered.

Machine criticality plays a vital role in this decision, along with other factors (see sidebar on page 4). A lubricant specification can be used as the baseline for the tier-two tests, or the performance listed on the new lubricant from its product data sheet. Performance tests can include filterability, air-handling ability, water-handling ability, film strength, oxidation stability, corrosion suppression, etc.

The selection of these tier-two tests is largely driven by the critical performance needs in the target machine application. Again, standardized test methods can be employed, especially relating to elastomers and surface treatments. Risk relating to chemical exposures might include certain gases (refrigerants, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, etc.), fuel, coolants, process chemicals, etc. Custom testing may also need to be performed to assess their compatibility.

The post Hazards of Changing Lubricant Brands appeared first on Tesibis.

In the interest of reducing purchasing costs and streamlining storage and handling, many organizations have substantially slashed the number of lubricant SKUs (stock keeping units) they use. They have also re-engineered the precision of their lubricant specification. There are many real and a couple of somewhat imaginary benefits to these consolidation initiatives. Let’s start with the real benefits.

These include:

Reducing stale inventory by directing more turnover (usage) across fewer lubricant products

Purging discontinued or hard-to-find lubricants from lubricant storerooms

Sole sourcing lubricants to a single distributor and perhaps brand to simplify the purchasing function and leverage volume buying (see figure 1)

Enhance usage convenience and lower risk of accidental cross-contamination (fewer drum pumps, transfer systems, filter carts, top-up containers, etc.)

Re-engineering and enhancing lubricant selection especially for machines utilizing lubricants that have drifted out of spec (perhaps as a result of several past consolidation attempts)

The post Lubricant Consolidation: Steps and Benefits appeared first on Tesibis.

Lubrication is an unmistakably integral part of machine reliability. Rotating machines are dependent on lubrication decisions made, such as which lubricant to use, how the lubricant needs to be applied to the tribological zones, and what is done during operations to monitor and control the integrity of these frictional zones.

At the same time, lubrication is too often not top of mind when considering the critical aspects of rotating machines, partly because there is a lack of general understanding of the crucial role the lubricant plays in reliability. But even for those who may understand this, it still is not intuitive to manage these factors carefully. Rather, there are incorrect assumptions that lubrication is straight forward; in other words, simply “just having oil or grease in the machine is largely all that is necessary” is a perspective of many. This, coupled with the fact that lubrication is messy and not as exciting as the many other maintenance tasks, often challenge workforce culture.

As a result, the industry suffers from stagnant practices and lethargic attitudes. Although, the dismal state of an old and generally unexciting field is a huge opportunity in disguise. For plant maintenance personnel that see this opportunity, improvements in lubrication not only help avoid unnecessary costs in repairs and downtime, but also have a huge impact in improving the maintenance culture and creating a foundation for sustainable growth. But what should be the focus for improvement and achieving lubrication excellence?

The post Optimizing Lubrication and Lubricant Analysis appeared first on Tesibis.

I have learned that excellence in lubrication is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find. The reasons for this are many. One simple explanation is the field of lubrication is a specialty that takes education and years of experience to master – like most professions.

Companies employ professionals with specialized skills indeed (computer science, finance, marketing, etc.), but how often have you heard of a recruiter going to a college campus to interview and hire lubrication professionals? I’ve never heard of this.

Likewise, I know of no colleges or universities in North America with degree programs in lubrication. No wonder excellence in lubrication is so rare. Do you sense an opportunity here?

Lacking real knowledge in lubrication, companies must still make lubrication decisions. Decisions often seem straightforward on the surface, but below this surface, they are plagued with pitfalls that can cost companies dearly.

The post The Difference Between Good Lubrication and Good Lubricants appeared first on Tesibis.

Thousands of companies around the world have an immediate need to hire lubrication management professionals. These companies are owners of numerous production assets that are critical to industrial processes and fleet operations. The reliability and operating costs of these machines depend heavily on the quality and effectiveness of lubrication as well as the skills of lubrication professionals.

It will be the lubrication management professional’s central task to ensure (as it relates to lubrication) that asset reliability is optimized at the lowest possible operating cost. The position is a strategic value-building job function essential to company profitability and competitive market strength.

The post The Role of Lubrication Management Professionals appeared first on Tesibis.