Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
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48 | March - April 2019 | www . machinerylubrication.com Certification Helps City of Chandler Achieve Longer Asset Life While certification is not required for everyone in the division, education has helped the decision-makers to work together toward lubrication excellence. Paul Hiller | ICML The City of Chandler's Joe Maestas uses a hand vacuum pump to collect an oil sample, while Richard Hunt greases a motor bearing with ultrasound guidance. TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION In a dry-locked metroplex like Phoenix, Arizona, the sanitary processing of municipal water is a perpetual struggle of man versus nature that directly impacts the region's ability to grow and thrive. Accordingly, with aging machinery assets at four water-treatment facili- ties and dozens of potable water wells, recharge wells and pumping stations, the Phoenix suburb of Chandler proactively hired a lubrication and oil analysis expert certified by the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) to develop predictive maintenance programs that would extend the reliability and service life of these assets. When Richard Hunt joined the City of Chandler, he recognized that overall predictive maintenance (PdM) was an area of great interest to the reliability management team, even beyond lubrication enhancement. "It all started as a training t h i n g ," re c a l le d Hu nt, who currently serves as Chandler's senior utilities PdM technician. Various monitoring technolo- gies had long ago become accessible to a broader spectrum of factory personnel, so training had become more commonplace. "Most manufacturers realized that there isn't any single tech- nology that's best," explained Hunt. "During training, Chandler manage- ment absorbed the message about complementary technology tools and decided the maintenance team could be doing more to implement additional programs. ey just didn't know how." e utilities group soon decided the best option for a comprehensive solution was to hire a PdM-oriented person from the private sector who could hit the ground running. "I came from an industrial back- ground, where I already had training and certification in vibration, ultra- sound and infrared, as well as oil analysis and lubrication," Hunt said. "So, I came onboard in 2015. I was the first and only predictive mainte- nance tech in the city at the time." Low-hanging Fruit and a Wall of Dust As a certified Machinery Lubri- cation Technician (MLT ) and Machine Lubricant Analyst (MLA), Hunt was already familiar with the current science and best practices for lubrication and oil analysis. His responsibilities would now include the health of machinery assets such as pumps, fans, blowers, mixers, gear reducers and belt presses. Hunt initially directed his attention to the Pecos Surface Water Treatment Plant (PSWTP) where he was based. L u b r i c a t i o n P r o g ra m s