Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/190260
Lubrication Programs FROM THE FIELD JEREMY WRIGHT | NORIA CORPORATION IMPLEMENTING a BEST-PRACTICE Lubrication PROGRAM A well-designed and properly executed lubrication program can provide significant fiscal opportunities for your plant. When developing lubrication programs for its clients, Noria uses a phased approach. The first phase is a benchmark assessment. During this phase, an engineering consultant travels to the plant and assesses the current state of the program. This helps identify deviations from best practice in the core areas of the client's lubrication program. At the end of this phase, clients not only should have a clear understanding of the steps necessary to transform their site but also an idea of the priority level of each of the changes to be made. The second phase is to design the Optimum Reference State (ORS) for each individual lubrication point. This includes developing procedures and job plans that consist of equipment hardware modifications, inspections, oil analysis, preventive maintenance (PM) and on-condition-based tasks that all relate to improving the asset's maintainability and reliability. The third phase, which will be the focus of this article, is the implementation of the design. Modifying your equipment is the first step in this phase. If you truly want to make strides toward becoming a world-class program, you will need to make equipment modifications. These generally are non-invasive modifications that serve a specific purpose. Figure 1 shows several examples of these modifications. 73% of lubrication professionals spend a little extra to get the highest quality and reduce the life-cycle cost, based on a recent survey at MachineryLubrication.com By adding accessories such as desiccating breathers, quickconnects, external level gauges and sample ports, you can transform a small gearbox to world-class standards in terms of contamination control, maintainability and reliability. Without the addition of items like an oil sample valve with a pitot tube, there would be no way to pull an oil sample as recommended by the design during the second phase. This is why clients are advised to purchase and install all accessories first. Without certain accessories in place, recommendations like pulling an oil sample or inspecting a level gauge will not make sense. What to Buy Figure 1. Examples of common equipment modifications 6| September - October 2013 | www.machinerylubrication.com Many decisions will need to be made at this point. There are numerous manufacturers and resellers of products aimed specifically at this market. Your decisions should be based on what it will take to accomplish your reliability goals. Be sure to always consider a product's life-cycle cost and its effect on your ability to achieve your goals. The old saying, "You get what you pay for," is true with machine modification accessories. It seems there is always a tradeoff between upfront costs vs. life-cycle