Machinery Lubrication magazine published by Noria Corporation
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Name Bradley Owen Age 43 Job Title Senior Reliability Technologist Company Cameco Corp. Location Saskatchewan, Canada Length of Service 10 years Be Featured in the Next 'Get to Know' Section WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FEATURED IN THE NEXT "GET TO KNOW" section or know someone who should be profiled in an upcoming issue of Machinery Lubrication magazine? Nominate yourself or fellow lubrication professionals by emailing a photo and contact information to editor@noria.com. 38 | March - April 2017 | www.machinerylubrication.com Q: What types of training have you taken to get to your current position? A: I have taken courses on basic and advanced lubrication and condition monitoring, as well as participated in webinars on various topics. Our lubricant supplier and oil analysis lab also offer training and information sessions that I have attended. I also try to attend at least one lubrication or reliability conference each year. Q: Are you planning to obtain additional training or achieve higher certifications? A: A person must always continuously train to stay current and aware of new developments in industry. There is a huge body of knowledge out there and so much to learn. My next target is to achieve a Level II Machine Lubri- cant Analyst (MLA II) certification through the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) and follow that up with the MLA III. Q: What's a normal work day like for you? A: We are a remote mine site, so I spend one week at the site, followed by a week off at home. While onsite, we work 11-hour days. A normal day consists of analyzing results from the previous samples, entering follow-up work notifications where required and preparing the next batch of samples to go out to our contract lab. I also review new equipment to ensure we have lubricant onsite that will meet the specifications required and spend time with the lube techni- cians in the field discussing areas that need improvement. Q: What is the amount and range of equipment that you help service through lubrica- tion/oil analysis tasks? A: We have a massive variety of equip- ment onsite. Our surface mobile equipment fleet consists of graders, semi-tractors, loaders, excavators, cranes and man-lifts. Underground we have scoops, drills, bolters, header machines and skid steers. Our mining process equipment includes numerous gearboxes and a huge variety of pumps. Our ore is moved as a slurry and pumped through our processing circuit. We have pumps that generate up to 15,000 pounds per square inch of pressure and others that can pump slurry 500 meters to the surface. Our mining process also requires us to freeze our ore body, so we have a fleet of 10 ammonia freeze Nearly four years ago, the Cameco Corporation's Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, performed an audit on its lubrication program. At the time, the program was almost non-existent, with lubricants stored outside, no follow-up on oil sample results, equip- ment not labelled and many other issues. Initially, one of the mine's mechanics was put in charge of starting and running the lube program. After he was promoted to supervisor, Bradley Owen took over the program and continued to build on the groundwork that had been laid. During the past three years, Owen has seen firsthand the tremendous financial benefits that can come from implementing and maintaining an effective lubrication program. Cameco's Owen Discovers Value of Effective Lube Program GET to KNOW