Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1399684
www.machinerylubrication.com | July - August 2021 | 49 INDUSTRY OPINIONS Each issue, we collec t insight s from lubrication leaders around the world to give their thought s on impor tant topic s facing our readers today. Where do you start buidling a lubrication program? Nathan Wright, Transformational Performance Solutions 1. To borrow from Stephen Covey, I begin with the end in mind. A robust lubrication program must be completely designed before you start. Without knowing what it is you want to achieve, you will waste a lot of time and money figuring it out as you go. 2. Leadership: making sure I have a fully trained and qualified champion to run the program. Without this person, everything else you do will fail to embed in the organization. 3. Current State: Next I evaluate the current state of the program. I most often use Noria here to do the heavy lifting as I understand how important lubrication is to my plant's reliability. 4. Finally, Close the GAP between the ideal and the current state (real). Michael Hooper, Noria Corporation 1. Audit and identify the equipment in the lubrication program into: a. Critical b. Functionally Non-Critical c. Stand-By 2. Identify managerial and maintenance staff involved in the lube reliability program and determine level of training required to manage and execute a superior and data driven lubrication program. 3. Review and structure a lubrication analysis program to obtain maximum data and information, by utilizing the appropriate internal and external testing instruments and software. William Sloan, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama In an automotive plant, the first place to start is getting leadership buy-in and building the business case for starting a lubrication program in the facility. Our facility is broken up in multiple departments and we have had oil management companies come in and do surveys to understand what the current state of our lubrication program is and to make recommendations on how to improve it or get one started. Second, we looked at all of the different lubricants being used in the plant to understand if we can consolidate some of these to save time and money as part of the lubrication program. Lastly, it was important for us when building the program to get the technicians properly trained to understand how to manage the lubrication program being put in place. After six months, we were able to show cost savings on the lubrication program that had been implemented. 1. Leadership/Management buy-in of why a program is needed 2. Lubrication survey for all equipment in use 3. Proper training of technicians as part of lubrication management