Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1356397
8 | March - April 2021 | www . machinerylubrication.com 8 | March - April 2021 | www . machinerylubrication.com A good way to substantiate this claim on rotating equipment is simply to tally and rank the most common issues flagged by inspec- tion, vibration, oil analysis, ultrasound and thermography. Knowledge from this exercise can greatly help focus time and resources related to training, certification, condition monitoring tools/activities, machine modifi- cations etc. We've learned this from the 500+ plant lubrication assessments we've performed over the years. Not only do the assessments confirm this, but they also continue to point out that lubrication programs are often overlooked, underutilized and generally performing at a sub-optimum level. While good lubrication is not a panacea for many unrelated machine maladies, it should always rank high in reliability resource and program planning. This is strongly supported by the huge body of case studies on reliability. 5. Training and Human Behavior ere is no greater influence on the state of lubrication than training and human behavior. I often say, "You earn what you learn." I do not say it because it rhymes or it sounds cool. I say it because, to me, it is an unvarnished fact. e words "optimum" or "optimization" are commonly used in maintenance and reliability. eir use refers to a balancing of costs, opportunities, benefits and risks. Common examples include PM Optimiza- tion (PMO) or the Optimum Reference State (ORS). Can "optimum" be applied to training and education? Most certainly! Figure 1 is the Education Needs Chart (ENC) for Lubrication Technicians. On the chart are three plotted lines and three zones. e upward sloping green line is the cost of education relative to the amount of education received. e precipitously downward sloping orange line is the cost of ignorance related to the financial consequences of not investing in training for lube techs. e cost of ignorance is largely defined as opportunity cost, such as opportunity to reduce repair costs and down- time. e blue line is the total of the two: cost of ignorance plus cost of education. e vertical Yellow Zone relates to a state of under-education and the high associated Figure 1 Legend: TBT=Task-based Training (Noria); CRE=Certified Reliability Engi- neer (ASQ); CMRP=Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional. All other ac- ronyms refer to ICML certification designations and levels. Note, TBT is considerably different than certification training. TBT is linked specifically to commonly performed and standardized tasks and procedures. opportunity costs (penalties). e Blue Zone on the right relates to a state of over-educa- tion. Note the cost penalty of over education is negligible. e center Green Zone relates to the optimum level of education; not too much, not too little. e point of dimin- ishing return is roughly the left edge of this green zone. Note, this version of the chart only applies to lubrication technicians. Different version of the chart would be used for lubri- cant analysts and lubrication engineers. See if you can make sense out of this sentence, "e vast majority of what we need to know is what we don't know we don't know." Or this, "If we don't know what we don't know, we can't seek what we need to know." Why is this important? A well-constructed training curriculum organized by people with real practical expe- rience in their field will always include topics that students think they are going to learn. While this is technically true, it should be the bare minimum. e real bounty from AS I SEE IT