Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/680544
LESSONS IN LUBRICATION the collected maintenance history and understanding of the machine's criticality will allow cautionary and critical alarm limits to be set. The lab should offer assistance in establishing these limits, but they must be in agreement with the plant's overall reli- ability objectives. Another thing you must consider is whether your laboratory's interpreters are familiar with the types of machines from which the oil samples were obtained. If they are not, make sure a specialist is involved to give you the diagnostic skills your machines require. Remember, providing oil analysis data and providing a good explanation of the data are two different things. After the interpretation has been performed, you should expect your lab to effectively and quickly communicate the results in a quality, user-friendly report. You should see supporting graphs, highlighted concerns, pictures and written interpreta- tions in addi tion to the complete raw data. In recent years, it's common for all reports to be routed through a cloud-based soft- ware to allow you to easily scan multiple reports and modify charts and trend graphs to suit your needs. The last thing you want is the important details to get lost in the jumble of data or to spend too much time trying to make complex interpretations yourself. While it's always wise to make your own interpretations (since you are most familiar with your machinery's history), you don't want to have to spend an unreasonable amount of time doing so. Every minute matters when your machines are in distress. Your laboratory should be prepared to immediately contact you if there are any critical concerns. This may be via call, text, email or whatever method works best for you. When it comes to these critical notifica - tions, do not rely on the standard delivery methods for your oil analysis results, as you may overlook their urgency. For example, if you normally receive all oil analysis results by email, you may not perceive the urgency of an email about a critical concern because it might be seen as a typical report in your inbox, likely delaying its review. After critical alarms are triggered and urgent notifications are sent, subsequent communication from the lab should help you evaluate the problem at hand and make quick decisions. The labo- TOTAL COSTS RELIABILITY Optimum Effectiveness The Optimum Reference State When reliability is high, so too may be the cost to achieve it. When reliability investments are low, the consequences of unreliability may be high (downtime, etc.) Total Cost of Reliability Cost to Improve Reliability (Maintenance Technology, etc.) Cost of Unreliable Manufacturing (Downtime, etc.) 44 | May - June 2016 | www.machinerylubrication.com 5. Evaluation • Exception test recommendations • Root cause investigation • Assess other condition monitoring results • Customer-focused support 4. Communication • Quality, user-friendly report presentation • Software integration • Urgent notification of critical results