Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1463313
12 | March - April 2022 | www . machinerylubrication.com lubricants just to meet the stipulations of the machine's OEM-warranty is not always advisable when considering what's best for business plant-wide. OEM recommendations can often be generic, typically based on an assumption of ideal conditions. Factors unique to your facility (such as the ambient temperature and degree of contamination) can alter lubrication qualities, rendering an OEM-recommended lubricant insufficient to maintain the expected reliability of the machine. Defaulting just to OEM-based lubricant selection can create a false sense of security and present itself as a lurking lubricant. 5. Fear of deviating from the current lubricant If things have always worked just fine a certain way, why deviate? Many people are resistant to changing lubricants, especially when they haven't run into any problems using the current lubricant (such as the lubricant tied to the orig- inal warranty) or when they're dealing with a highly critical machine. While these lubricants may still be the best option, it's important to allow room for reconsideration. Lubricant formulations are being improved every year, or better alternatives can exist, especially when taking a plant-wide lubricant optimization into account and consol- idating like-lubricants. Reducing the number of lubricants helps with not only bulk buying but can reduce the chances of cross contamina- tion in machines. Comprehensive lubricant labeling should be a reliability consideration when optimizing lubricant selection and can help avoid lurking lubricants. Creating a plan As you can see, the problem is part leadership, part training, and part just daily housekeeping. is can lead to further issues when those dealing with daily lubrication COVER STORY - LUBRICANT SELECTION START YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION www.machinerylubrication.com tasks are pressured to get their basic requirements done. is ultimately will result in confusion and a plant full of lurking lubricants. Creating change requires a plan. But before the plan is constructed, it's important to understand where we currently are and what the goal is. In this case, the goal is to achieve optimal lubri- cant usage in the plant and minimize the negative impacts on machine reliability. e plan to meet that goal should look something like this: • Review the current lubricants in use in the machines (where possible) and identify all lubricants stored in any way throughout the plant (and yes, look for those lurking lubricants hidden away). • Review who is making lubricant selection decisions. If this cannot be answered quickly, then a person or a committee needs to be created that goes t hroug h t he necessa r y machinery lubrication training and certifications. • Review the storage conditions. How are they being kept clear of contam- ination influence? What are storage reception practices like? • Make lubricant optimization guide- lines and policies, usually including direction from lubrication consul- tants and lubricant representatives. Note there are dozens of good arti- cles at machinerylubrication.com on lubricant optimization and storage best practice. Additionally, Noria can support in selecting the optimal lubricants through a consulting effort. • An effort to optimize the lubricant selection involves accounting for the needs and operating conditions of the individual machines while also considering plant-wide objectives. Typically, this results in reducing the number of lubricant products in the plant, which is why this process is often referred to as a consolida- tion effort. However, it is not unusual for the number of lubri- ca nts to increa se, which is sometimes due to an over-consolida- tion of lubricants performed during a previous initiative. • Finalize a lubricant list through a digital platform that supports the implementation of lubricant changes in machines and manages the updated lubricant information to the machines dynamically. • roughout the stages of imple- menting lubricant changes, provide machinery lubrication training to all personnel who manage or handle lubricants in any way. • Make those involved in lubrication activities accountable for lubrication tasks and program maintenance which can be supported by the right key performance indicators reported. Once lubricant selection is opti- mized, it will ultimately make it easy for the right things to be done right. Use the right lubricant, at the right time, from the right place, and you can avoid a lot of problems. When lubricant usage is not treated with the appropriate level of importance, lurking lubricants can find their way into the plant, and machine reliability will suffer. ML About the Author Bennett Fitch is the Chief Strategy Officer for Noria Corporation. He is a mechan- ical engineer who holds a Machinery Lubrication Engineer (MLE) certifi- cation, a Machine Lubricant Analyst (ML A) Level III certif ication and a Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) Level II certification through the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML). Contact Bennett at bfitch@noria.com.