Machinery Lubrication

Machinery Lubrication November December 2015

Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation

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inspection. While touring the plant, I listen for oddities and look for things that are off. After the assessment, I record oil consump- tions, then begin to fill centralized systems and top off any low hydraulic power units (HPUs). While the plant is in production, I keep myself busy with blowing out heat exchangers, oiling chains and preparing proj- ects for when there are breaks in production. Between shifts, I prepare the plant site by topping off inaccessible centralized systems and/or servicing machine centers. There isn't much time between shifts, so smaller tasks are the best option. The larger, more involved tasks wait until the weekend. Weekend days are filled with in-depth lubri- cation. I select machine centers according to the schedule and/or need, and lubricate from top to bottom while inspecting many different components along the way. Q: What is the amount and range of equipment that you help service through lubrication/oil analysis tasks? A: The amount of machines and machine centers I lubricate is vast. Aside from a handful of machine centers, the lubrication of the plant site is primarily my responsi- bility. The range is pretty diverse as well, including gearboxes, bearings, chains, airline oilers, hydraulics, rotary air compres- sors and centralized systems. We have more than 20 HPUs, all of which require oil anal- ysis and service, in addition to several other components. When we suspect a problem or receive a poor report from the lab, I analyze oil via an onsite patch kit. Occa- sionally, I'll pull a sample randomly just to take a look, but primarily oil sampling is done monthly. Q: On what lubrication-related projects are you currently working? A: Currently, I'm working on eliminating airline oilers plant-wide. I'm implementing centralized systems to take their place. You can spend a lot of time filling up more than a hundred airline oilers per week and making adjustments with environmental fluctuations and/or production demands. The centralized systems are more reliable and accurate while requiring far less atten- tion after installation. Q: What do you see as some of the more important trends taking place in the lubrication and oil analysis field? A: What I'm noticing as a trend in lubrica- tion and oil analysis is earlier detection. There's more of an emphasis on catching slighter variances, which makes sense, as the sooner you can catch or monitor a condition, the better off you'll be to resolve it moving forward. I'm also noticing better technology being used in lubrication and oil analysis. I haven't been doing this forever, but from what I've seen, lubrication and oil analysis have come a long way. The field is quickly becoming more advanced. Q: What has made your company decide to put more emphasis on machinery lubrication? A: My company has put a greater emphasis on lubrication because they notice the effect it has on the bottom line. With adequate and proper lubrication practices, uptime related to reliability increases along with production and profits. In the absence of adequate lubrication practices, break- downs occur, and production and profits suffer. A plant that doesn't break down makes everyone involved happy. They have recognized that lubrication plays a critical role in this. Be Featured in the Next 'Get to Know' Section WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FEATURED IN THE NEXT "GET TO KNOW" section or know someone who should be profiled in an upcoming issue of Machinery Lubrication magazine? Nominate yourself or fellow lubri- cation professionals by emailing a photo and contact information to editor@noria.com.

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