Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1080534
32 | January - February 2019 | www . machinerylubrication.com How u nc om f or t- able is it for your orga nization when o f f - s p e c i f i c a t i o n product moves through your quality- assurance process and reaches your customers? I've heard of a few instances when this resulted in the termination of employees, manage- ment and even contracts. e issue here is that customers paid for a product they were unable to use. Does this sound familiar? Likewise, when you purchase new lubricating oils, you are paying for a product that you cannot or should not put to immediate use. What mystifies me is why so many people hold their lubricant suppliers to a different standard than they themselves are being held to as a vendor. Was there something wrong with the money you paid? If not, why should there be anything wrong with the product you purchased? Demand Cleanliness There are numerous reasons why new lubricants are dirty or off- specification. Contaminated drums or containers, cross-contamination of bulk loads and container mislabeling are just a few. Humans are imperfect and make mistakes. Some suppliers are working diligently to improve their internal processes and mini- mize these issues. Unfortunately, it is not enough, and to put it bluntly, that is your fault. Lubricant suppliers will respond to market demand. If you demand cleaner lubricants, they will provide them. Initially, the price will be higher, but as improved cleanliness becomes the norm, the price will stabilize. It is up to you to perform a cost-benefit analysis and determine if the extra price per lubricant unit would be cheaper than the cost of f iltration equipment, testing, man-hours expended to clean the oil or the cost of downtime and reduced reliability. I would venture to guess that in nearly every case it is worth the extra expense. e first step in this process is to demand cleanliness. How Lubricants Become Contaminated In every manufacturing process, a certain amount of debris is produced. Much of this debris is small enough to become airborne and find its way into both the machinery and the product, whether that is cement, food, metal drums or other products. Typically, the more inherently dirty the process, the laxer the cleanliness controls. Why New Oil Should Be Filtered Contamination Control PERSPECTIVE Loren Green | Noria Corporation Until you demand that your lubricants arrive in a clean, cool and dry state, it is unlikely to happen." "