Machinery Lubrication

Machinery Lubrication July-August 2019

Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation

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training courses, engineers and technicians have often said how they would like their managers to attend these seminars to under- stand the opportunities for improvement and savings in their facilities. Upper management generally deals with fi nancial numbers, and almost everything in the organization is seen from a fi nancial perspective. Wouldn't it be great to show the plant manager, chief fi nancial offi cer and company president the tremendous opportu- nities they have to invest in plant reliability while realizing a high return on investment by reducing operational costs? How can you make them aware of reliability concepts and princi- ples so they can convert them into numbers? is article will help you reveal the hidden costs so they can be better understood from a business perspective. Hidden, Unnecessary Costs What are the hidden costs? It's possible to measure or estimate them if resources have been provided for training on failure modes and investigations, as well as a methodology and resources to conduct failure investiga- tions. Also, a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can record and keep detailed information on the conclusions from failure investigations, machine/fl eet failure frequencies and modes, relevant issues about equipment operation, and estimates of the cost per machine failure and failure modes for the fl eet. While this information can be helpful, it is quite diff icult to reach this point. Frequently, there are no resources or meth- odology to collect, process or analyze the information. ere may also be failure root causes of which the maintenance team is unaware. In addition, the root causes can be combined, and it may not be possible to iden- tify all of them or determine their relevance. A few estimates of hidden costs are shown in the illustration above. How can the cost of lubrication-related failures be so much higher than what is seen in the accounting system? e answer is there are diverse failures that may not be catastrophic but that produce diminished performance of the machine components, which makes it necessary to schedule a repair or replacement. In many cases, the failure is silent and relatively slow, so it is not perceived as an abnormal condition but rather a normal machine operation or part of the typical equip- ment life cycle. Although this principle is applicable to nearly all machines, one component that is particularly susceptible to lubrication failures is the rolling-element bearing. e replacement cost for bearings can be fi ve to seven times the cost of the actual bearing due to labor, administration, warehouse stock control, purchasing procedures, etc. ese direct and indirect costs may go beyond the limits of the maintenance budget. Following are a few industry examples that demonstrate this type of silent, unperceived wear which at the end of the day must be paid by the maintenance and operations department. A Satisfi ed Culture Some companies are so fi nancially healthy that the old or traditional maintenance strat- egies are accepted. In these organizations, it is important to have machines working as much as possible to maintain production. Typically, few people in the company will be interested in optimizing resources, since it seems like an unnecessary strategy and there is no perceived need for improvement. Eventually, this culture of being satisfi ed with the current condition will reach all organizational levels, from top management to fl oor personnel. On the other hand, some companies have been through tough times and realize the importance of optimizing costs and looking for better productivity with fewer resources. ese organizations are more open to talk about reli- ability and reliability-centered lubrication. Preventive Maintenance Masks Corrective Maintenance W hen the ma intena nce tea m for a continuous- process company that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week reported no serious issues with bearing failures and that the plant was working well within the scheduled shutdowns, it was both surprising and somewhat concerning. When the plant's lubrication and contamination control prac- tices were analyzed, gaps in the design and execution of the routines were identifi ed as well as signifi cant sources of contamination during the storage, handling and application of oils and greases. Most of the preventive maintenance was not actually inspections, lubrication tasks, replacement of consum- ables, etc., but rather corrective maintenance that was scheduled every six months. e ML www . machinerylubrication.com | July - August 2019 | 33 TYPICAL MAINTENANCE BUDGET Lubricants 3% Misc. Supplies & Equipment 12% Maintenance Labor 45% Replacement Parts 40% CAUSE OF MACHINE FAILURE Mechanical Fatigue Failure 9% Miscellaneous 21% Incorrect Component Assembly and Misalignment 27% Incorrect Choice and Usage of Lubricants 43% 100% 100% Addressable 70% Example of a typical maintenance budget Estimates of hidden costs

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