COVER STORY
At many reactive plants, the lubrica-
tion program either languishes into
decay or was never properly established.
In the case of the Owens Corning facility in
Aiken, South Carolina, a lube program was
never implemented. e plant began its life
in 1979 as a satellite of a neighboring Owens
Corning plant. e main plant was sold in 1999,
leaving the satellite facility without programs
and processes — including lubrication. In
reaction, a makeshift lubrication storage room
was established, but it was nowhere near world
class. For 17 years, the plant struggled awash in
a reactive environment.
Wetting the Whistle
After retiring from a 20-year naval career
in the nuclear power fi eld, I began working
as a reliability engineer on one of Aiken's
three production lines. My fi rst two weeks
were memorable: My supervisor quit my fi rst
day, and the plant manager was fi red shortly
thereafter. I quickly learned that we were a
fully reactive plant in complete disorganiza-
tion. With that, I had free rein to improve my
production line.
New to the job, I needed to tackle small
projects. A consultant introduced me to
automatic lubricators. These motor-driven
lubricators offer visual feedback, with a
fl ashing green light indicating good, while a
red light requires attention. We chose to place
them on a system that was frequently experi-
encing failures. When failures began to taper
off , operators and maintenance asked for more.
Adding Automatic
Lubricators
One of the facility's production lines
incorporates four 24-inch hollow rolls. ese
chilled rolls cool the fi berglass mat as it leaves
the oven. e bearings that support these rolls
feel the eff ects of the chilled water. A cooled
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July - August 2019
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www
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machinerylubrication.com
Photo
By
Mark
Green