Like most business plans and strategies, an inspection plan should be built from the top down. It should begin with a clear statement of corporate goals and objectives related to asset management.

This approach is addressed in ISO 55001. Another global standard currently under construction by the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML), ICML 55 focuses on optimized management of lubricated assets. It is aligned to ISO 55001 guidelines as well.

A full-on inspection plan should also be a detailed and comprehensive document to ensure that key features and functional elements are not overlooked. From there, it can be abridged or streamlined for quick review by technicians and operators.

The unabridged version of the plan can even serve as a rough curriculum for training and competency testing for both current and aspiring new inspectors.

A well-constructed inspection plan enhances the likelihood and magnitude of successful and sustained deployment. The discussion that follows is more about codifying the structure of an inspection plan, including the tasks and main features that should be incorporated when writing a plan.

Modern reliability and asset management programs expect documented, procedure-based work plans. This reduces the risk of variability, uncertainty and drift over time. The plan is best if it is consensus-based and continually improved.

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These days, reliability professionals are faced with diverse options related to technologies and methods to detect, troubleshoot and remediate problems. Figure 1 is a simple example of the available options to collect data and arrive at decisions regarding the health of machinery and machine components.

The logical starting point is always to carefully rank failure modes by both criticality and probability of occurrence. For more information on this topic, see my previous column titled “A New Look at Criticality Analysis for Machinery Lubrication.” This method is known as failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA), and has been extensively documented.

The failure mode ranking sets into motion the critical-path process in reaching optimized decisions related to condition monitoring followed by the prescribed response or remedy. This response should not simply be corrective but also incorporate proactive measures to prevent or restrict recurrence. The emphasis is on optimized decisions and actions.

It’s easy to go cheap (penny wise, pound foolish), but there also can be temptation at the other extreme (a state of reliability excess), often driven by fear of the unknown. The optimum reference state is an activity of seeking balanced decisions. After all, you are not trying to maximize reliability. There is no greater source to find this balance than knowledge and education.

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The truth is, oil analysis is detective work, plain and simple. Today’s detectives are empowered with a growing bag of tricks but frankly, only a few of these tricks involve traditional “oil analysis.”

Let’s take a closer look at what’s involved in real oil detective work. But before we do, remember that the primary job of the oil analyst is not troubleshooting chronic machine problems but rather the activity of machine health management, that is, maintaining and controlling machine wellness.

I have written extensively on this subject in the past. Proactive maintenance is always where the big payoff is found. Still, even the best proactive maintenance programs can’t completely rid machines of random failures and occasional abnormal wear conditions. It is in these cases when the oil detective earns his keep.

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