|
Billions of dollars each year are spent to repair the damage caused by
mechanical wear in US factories. The key elements of damage are due to
surface degradation including mechanical wear and fatigue—a high percentage of
which is due to lubricant degradation and problems associated with related
maintenance.
With increased competition and rising costs maintenance professionals must
find solutions to these unnecessary losses by getting back to basics—paying
particular attention to the lubricants they use and the suppliers selected, as
well as their overall approach to management of the lubrication maintenance
function. One solution is total lubrication consolidation, which is the
latest industry trend in the challenge to reduce overall maintenance costs,
extend equipment life, and simplify the lubricant purchasing process. It
is a relatively new option for plant maintenance professionals, and is
generating understandable interest. The reason is simple. In
addition to these important benefits, total lubrication consolidation also
provides efficiency improvements through better inventory control, more
effective preventive maintenance, and improved overall management
practices.
How can plant management choose the best lubrication consolidation program?
They should look for a “package” offering a complete product line that
meets the requirements of virtually every need in their plant, as well as an
integrated oil analysis service, and lubrication management software. All
of these offerings should be supported by local product supply and expert
technical assistance.
Until recently, no supplier could meet all these requirements, but the
lubrication marketplace is changing due to the demand for increased production
efficiencies and greater supplier performance. These demands have
resulted in the re-design of a variety of programs with “twists” that make them
look new, featuring claims of complete lubrication packages
Buyers beware!
Total lubricant consolidation presents a deceptively simple challenge that
is not easily achieved. This is mainly because most suppliers simply do
not truly have the capability to provide a total lubrication package. In
addition, the concept is so new that many maintenance professionals are unclear
about the criteria needed to select the right products and services to
implement a total lubrication program. Certainly some plant operations require
only a limited amount of support and many suppliers have the needed
capabilities to meet such requirements. The challenge is especially
daunting, however, for those plants where thousands of moving parts have unique
lubrication requirements and schedules that are difficult to meet and track
effectively and efficiently. In addition, selecting the right supplier is
a particularly tough challenge for plants where lubricants come from many
companies. Nevertheless, consolidating lubrication-related purchases into
a single, integrated program is possible, and there are many reasons why
maintenance professionals are giving it serious consideration.
Lubrication consolidation helps manufacturers optimize the lubrication
maintenance process to keep equipment running smoothly and continually at
maximum capacity, which is essential to profitability. Failure to do so
can be costly, as preventable breakdowns interrupt production and hike
maintenance costs. Lubrication engineers estimate that 60 percent of all
mechanical failures are due to inadequate or improper lubrication practices.
Bearing experts attribute more than 50 percent of all bearing failures
to inadequate lubrication. Other causes for unnecessary expenses are
mistakes and oversights such as empty oil reservoirs or grease fittings that
may have been overlooked due to lack of proper documentation. If it is
difficult to find, it will be even more difficult to repair. In fact, an
MIT study calculated that six to seven percent of America’s Gross National
Product (about $240 billion) is spent repairing wear damage caused by poor
lubrication3.
Consider, for example, the lubrication requirements of a large chemical
plant. It typically has 80,000 lubrication points to attend, involving
hundreds of combinations of lubricant types, lubrication points, lubrication
frequencies, and methods of application. The wrong lubricant, or the
correct lubricant applied in the wrong manner, can halt plant operations.
With so much at stake, making sure that the right lubricant is used at
the right time is critical. It is no wonder that lubrication
consolidation requires expert assistance.
Sources of Error
Multiple suppliers offering partial solutions to diverse lubrication
requirements compromise good lubrication management by making the delivery of
products and services more complex than needed. The difficulty is evident
when considering that plant maintenance managers typically purchase a couple
dozen or more different lubricants from as almost as many suppliers. Why?
Inertia, historical relationships, different buyers for different plants.
No plant focus on lubricants. It’s often a nightmare, yet in many
instances there is just no other choice. Almost no single supplier offers
a complete line of products that meet virtually every plant lubrication need.
And this goes for related lubrication services, too! That’s where
the words “total lubrication consolidation” come into play. It’s
not just about lubricant supply. It’s about consolidating the entire
spectrum of lubrication products and services as a means to ensure that
production lines operate continuously, without interruption, in the most cost
efficient manner possible.
As a first step, maintenance professionals interested in evaluating the
prospects for savings should look for suppliers that offer a total
lubrication package, not just a “full” or “broad” product line. By
selecting a supplier that offers the right mix of products and services,
customers are better assured that their inventory carries the most appropriate
lubricants for their plant needs, and that they are supplied to the right
applications at the right times.
Without a single supply source, however, redundant orders of comparable
lubricants with different brand names can contribute to wasteful inventory.
Maintenance professionals facing unclear or multiple lubricant choices
can make mistakes that damage equipment, causing preventable maintenance and
increased downtime. What’s worse, suppliers offering only a limited line
of lubricants sometimes try to force-fit their products regardless of specific
application requirements. As a result, lubricants over- or
under-“engineered” for a given application can cost machine life and
maintenance dollars. But the waste of maintenance dollars doesn’t just
stop there.
Maintenance professionals typically adopt a conservative but costly approach
to machine lubrication by replacing fluids at shorter intervals than necessary.
Although the decision is often well grounded on conservative OEM
maintenance guidelines, oil drain intervals can be extended in many instances
contingent on the selection of better oils for the application. For
example, the switch from conventional oils to a new generation of ultra-high
purity mineral oils or synthetic lubricants can extend drain oils by as much as
three to ten times respectively. In other instances, extended
drain intervals stem from oil analysis readings indicating that a lubricant
will tolerate extended service.
Whatever the reason, the MRO manager who increases the time between
lubricant drain intervals typically cuts related costs significantly!
Extending lubricating intervals also increases production time and saves
production losses due to unnecessary maintenance that might be attributed to
poor lubrication practices. For these reasons, it pays to make sure your
supplier has not only the right lubricants, but also a staff of lubrication
technical experts to help you solve problems and tap opportunities for savings.
This is because using the right lubricant and setting efficient drain
intervals requires detailed knowledge of lubricants and the analytical tools to
determine their condition, which often call for a level of expertise not
readily available in house.
This is a typical situation where lubrication consolidation begins to show
benefits. With the assistance of the right supplier, maintenance
professionals can reliably identify opportunities for savings in their
lubrication maintenance budget, and much more.
Consolidating Pays Off
A consolidated lubricant source with local distributors streamlines the
purchasing and inventory tasks facing busy MRO managers. However,
lubricant suppliers providing the maximum benefit are those who offer more than
just quick delivery from a range of products. A true vendor-partner will
gladly provide application expertise and real-time support in the form of
technical services, oil analysis, and lubrication management software to help
you better manage complex lubrication maintenance issues.
In short, consolidating lubricant purchases in a single, integrated program
with a knowledgeable, full-line supplier pays off in many ways. It can
provide better return on capital investments, improve productivity, and make
inventory management more effective. Consolidation can also lead to
better preventive maintenance, better equipment performance, and more effective
general management. Equally important, lubrication consolidation makes
you a major customer, which justifies a higher level of technical support.
Tapping the Benefits of Consolidation
Suppliers with complete lubrication packages, particularly those offering
lubrication technical service, have the necessary insight into a customers’
equipment and operations that enables them to recommend the best lubricant for
each application. After the right lubricants are identified, the
consolidated lubricant supplier should tag them. Tagging relieves
maintenance workers of complex choices and tells them when lubricants must be
changed. The lubricant supplier should also offer integrated oil
analysis/monitoring services to assure timely lubricant changes. The end
result is extended equipment life, which is critical for expensive machinery
and equipment.
With help from the right lubrication supplier, better maintenance planning
improves productivity by preventing unnecessary downtime. Integrated oil
analysis/monitoring provides important criteria that help determine when oil
drain intervals can be extended, and prevents wasteful early change outs.
At the same time, superior-performing lubricants of the highest quality
can pay for themselves in many instances through extended drain intervals and
longer life for plant machinery and equipment. The reasons are simple.
Less product use and less maintenance time means less cost.
In short, a consolidated lubrication program with the right supplier has the
potential to further enhance productivity by making it easier to automate
preventive maintenance routines, increase the efficiency of inventory
management, and draw on local product supply to reduce on-site inventory costs.
In addition, with the help of local technical support, additional savings
can be accrued through lubrication management software that provides efficiency
improvements through the automation of lubrication maintenance processes.
Finding The Right Lubricant Supplier
How can MRO managers find the right single source of lubrication products
and services to meet all their complex needs? The first step is to look
beyond lubricants to include services such as local support for technical and
applications questions as well as for oil analysis and lubrication management
software. This integrated package is essential to effective lubrication
management. You will find wide differences among lubrication vendors in the
quality and extent of this “total package.” Maintenance professionals
interested in tapping lubrication consolidation for savings opportunities may
find it helpful to think about the following questions when evaluating
potential suppliers:
1. How complete is their product line?
The suppliers best equipped to meet requirements for diverse lubricating
solutions are those offering a complete line of industrial lubricants, not just
a “wide range” of products. Fluids for high-volume applications include
hydraulic, compressor and vacuum pump, gearbox and chain, and multipurpose
oils. Specialized industrial compounds such as greases, pastes,
anti-friction coatings, and dispersions must be added to the mix. In
addition, a wide range of base stocks is essential. Synthetics provide
excellent resistance to emulsification and last longer to extend maintenance
intervals. Ultra-high purity mineral oils also resist emulsification and
promote improved additive performance, which results in longer life than
conventional mineral oils. The full-line supplier must also be able to
draw on functional additive technologies including anti-oxidant, anti-wear, and
extreme temperature additives.
2. How well does the local representative understand my needs and the
lubrication requirements of my equipment?
Effective lubricant consolidation demands technical support from local
representatives who understand both lubricants and operating conditions in
common industrial equipment. Air compressors, for example, put unique
demands on lubricants. Typical operating temperatures around 210°F
accelerate reactions between compressed oxygen and impurities, especially those
found in mineral oils. The resulting rapid oxidation causes a sudden
increase in viscosity and lubricant failure. Mineral oils in air
compressors generally last only 1,000 hours. By comparison, a synthetic
compressor oil, specially formulated for air compressors, lasts around 12 times
as long.
Other applications impose their own requirements. Food processing
equipment subject to daily washdowns, for example, requires gearbox and
conveyor chain lubricants that resist emulsification. The knowledgeable
consolidated lubricant supplier understands such applications and knows the
right lubricants to use at the right time. Their expertise helps
maintenance professionals avoid mistakes in lubricant selection and application
that can shorten equipment life and stop production. And, they can also
help install lubrication management software and show how it can help achieve
additional efficiency improvements
3. Does the supplier offer oil analysis?
To gauge the condition of industrial lubricants in service, an integrated
oil analysis program is essential to compare each lubricant with its own
performance benchmarks. Effective analysis tracks multiple critical
wear-related characteristics of oil in service by comparing the results with
previous reports, and notes the trends. As an essential part of a
lubricant consolidation program, oil analysis helps identify contamination,
lubricant degradation, and abnormal machine wear. Industry-accepted
tests reveal the presence of metal particles, water, and other contaminants.
While oil analysis alone cannot predict mechanical failures, testing can
identify abnormal conditions that indicate lubricant aging, and/or whether it
is abnormal. In so doing, analysis provides criteria to take preventive action
that may reduce the potential for “larger” equipment problems, which could
result in greater expenses and unnecessary downtime.
The wise use of oil analysis data can play an instrumental role in
significantly lowering overall costs associated with oil changes, and help
extend equipment life. Analysis, for example, can prevent needless,
costly oil changes dictated by simplistic predictive time interval schemes
while, in other instances, provide criteria that may lead to savings by
extending oil drain intervals. In addition, trend data can provide
criteria for the design and rationalization of preventive maintenance routines
that lend themselves to computer-based management.
4. How good is their lubrication management software?
Dedicated lubrication management software is a powerful tool to schedule,
supervise, and record a consolidated lubrication program. It exploits and
complements oil analysis by collecting trend data and developing responsive
lubrication schedules. By enabling maintenance managers and workers to
schedule and record lubrication changes for specific equipment, lubrication
software automates the lubrication management function.
A typical large plant, for example, requires MRO managers to track a complex
schedule of lubricants and applications. While general maintenance
software cannot manage complex lubrication programs, dedicated lubrication
management software can generate actionable lubricating information. In
so doing, it helps reduce lubrication errors by automatically generating
information that helps coordinate daily maintenance routines in the most
efficient manner possible. The software also identifies opportunities to
more efficiently schedule lubricant orders and reduce inventory.
Be sure the dedicated lubrication management software provides three key
functions. First, it should centralize lubrication requirements and
protocols for an entire plant. It should catalog what lubricant is
required when and how it should be applied for every lubrication point in the
plant. The database should provide a proactive preventive maintenance
tool that can save time, reduce risk of errors, and make it easy to record
completed lubrication tasks.
Second, effective lubrication management software should help you create and
schedule lubrication routes for thousands of points within your plant. In
addition, scheduling software can generate lubricating work orders and monitor
the performance of lubricants and maintenance employees.
Finally, dedicated lubrication management software should help you broaden
lubrication schedules and records to cover multiple sites.
Cut Cost, Extend Equipment Life
In a complex manufacturing operation, commodity lubricants bought from many
suppliers are easy to take for granted. This is a mistake that can
compromise productivity and profitability. The consolidation of lubricant
purchasing with the right supplier can help manage and enhance a key MRO
function. However, the selected vendor must offer a complete solution in
the form of a full line of lubricants and fluids backed by local distribution
and technical support. The package should include detailed oil analysis
services, and lubrication management software to track lubricant scheduling.
The key difference between a full-service lubricant supplier as a partner
rather than a vendor is the ability of a locally supported total lubrication
program that enables MRO managers to cut lubricating costs and extend the lives
of costly equipment.
For information about the Molykote® Total Industrial Lubrication
Program from Dow Corning, or literature about related products and services, contact us. |
Change
