Lubrication and Tribology
Lubrication is undervalued, ignore it and you risk the reliability of all your mechanical assets
Most people know what is meant by Lubrication... fewer understand the term Tribology.
Lubrication is the process of introducing a substance to keep moving parts apart.
Tribology is the science of moving surfaces interacting with each other, this includes the design and specification of bearings, study of friction, wear, and lubrication.
UPTIME Consultant Ltd has a holistic approach to Maintenance and Reliability, we consider not only how to lubricate an asset, but think about the bearing specification, the lubrication standard, training, how components fail in service, total lifespan, how to detect potential failures with 'predictive' tools, all these aspects fit together in our holistic strategy.
We have experience of formulating Lubrication Strategies linked with Predictive Technologies to manage lubrication On Condition whilst removing wasteful time based tasks and reducing the reliance on planned maintenance activities.
We can help with specifications of greases, lubricating oils or bearing type to drive efficiency savings as well as increasing your uptime and availability.
I have previously trained with Rocol and Interflon as a Lubrication Trainer for Maintainers and Operators.
More information about how to form a Lubrication Strategy is available in the UPTIME Consultant articles shared below.
If you would like a work proposal or chat about your Lubrication Strategy then please contact me at: [email protected]
Lubrication is the process of introducing a substance to keep moving parts apart.
Tribology is the science of moving surfaces interacting with each other, this includes the design and specification of bearings, study of friction, wear, and lubrication.
UPTIME Consultant Ltd has a holistic approach to Maintenance and Reliability, we consider not only how to lubricate an asset, but think about the bearing specification, the lubrication standard, training, how components fail in service, total lifespan, how to detect potential failures with 'predictive' tools, all these aspects fit together in our holistic strategy.
We have experience of formulating Lubrication Strategies linked with Predictive Technologies to manage lubrication On Condition whilst removing wasteful time based tasks and reducing the reliance on planned maintenance activities.
We can help with specifications of greases, lubricating oils or bearing type to drive efficiency savings as well as increasing your uptime and availability.
I have previously trained with Rocol and Interflon as a Lubrication Trainer for Maintainers and Operators.
More information about how to form a Lubrication Strategy is available in the UPTIME Consultant articles shared below.
If you would like a work proposal or chat about your Lubrication Strategy then please contact me at: [email protected]
Oil Sampling
Oil Sampling, some tips about how, when and where to sample along with the all important return on investment
The importance of having a Lubrication Strategy can't be understated, unfortunately this is completely disregarded in some parts of industry.
Oil Sampling is a proactive tool that provides the earliest advanced warnings of internal equipment issues, it tracks oil quality and provides information to manage oil replenishment or other improvement activity.
Of all the proactive tools this is the one that some say is the easiest to pick up and implement... but it's also easy to take samples that provide little or no value that give misleading or incorrect information.
Like all techniques a level of knowledge and training is required before you can capture meaningful samples.
One of the simplest forms of monitoring is the oil sight glass.
I'm assuming you can see through your oil level sight glass?
The first failure is a fogged glass that gives little or no visibility, consider investing in a new one.
You also need to know what to look for, you can't ascertain lubricant quality with this subjective method alone.
If you are going to give yourself a chance at least fit a new sight glass and an inline sampling port in the correct location.
Oil Sampling is a proactive tool that provides the earliest advanced warnings of internal equipment issues, it tracks oil quality and provides information to manage oil replenishment or other improvement activity.
Of all the proactive tools this is the one that some say is the easiest to pick up and implement... but it's also easy to take samples that provide little or no value that give misleading or incorrect information.
Like all techniques a level of knowledge and training is required before you can capture meaningful samples.
One of the simplest forms of monitoring is the oil sight glass.
I'm assuming you can see through your oil level sight glass?
The first failure is a fogged glass that gives little or no visibility, consider investing in a new one.
You also need to know what to look for, you can't ascertain lubricant quality with this subjective method alone.
If you are going to give yourself a chance at least fit a new sight glass and an inline sampling port in the correct location.
The first question you should ask about Oil Sampling is WHY?
Why am I sampling, for what purpose and will the oil sample at least payback the cost?
What are the benefits, how critical is the asset, does it warrant lubricant monitoring?
Is there a history of failure where the root cause was lubricant related, is the oil change activity expensive, is there a safety risk when carrying oil changes out?
Consider the associated costs of annual oil changes, is a time based approach really the best we can do?
Why am I sampling, for what purpose and will the oil sample at least payback the cost?
What are the benefits, how critical is the asset, does it warrant lubricant monitoring?
Is there a history of failure where the root cause was lubricant related, is the oil change activity expensive, is there a safety risk when carrying oil changes out?
Consider the associated costs of annual oil changes, is a time based approach really the best we can do?
Payback comes in many forms, people often say they find it hard to justify ROI, I find it quite easy, it comes down to risk, safety, volume, criticality and cost.
Lubricants are getting more expensive, in the food sector it's not unusual to find smaller volume fills that easily cost well over £1000 in oil alone; does a timed change provide the best value and use of this important resource?
Lubricants are also getting smarter with some synthetics lasting 3-5 times longer than standard mineral oils.
Lubrication requires management, that's why I always advise any site to have a Lubrication champion who is responsible for tracking lubricant use, trained to take oil samples and working it partnership with their lubricant supplier.
Lubricants are also getting smarter with some synthetics lasting 3-5 times longer than standard mineral oils.
Lubrication requires management, that's why I always advise any site to have a Lubrication champion who is responsible for tracking lubricant use, trained to take oil samples and working it partnership with their lubricant supplier.
How do we go about it?
Well you could buy a Laboratory and do it yourself... but the ROI would be hard to justify.
You could employ a contractor that captures Thermal, Vibration, Ultrasound and Oil Samples.
This may be a good way to start but ownership is best held eventually within the company.
Starting this way you can get some skills transferred, it's my preferred choice and one that I have used successfully before.
The issue is that they may not be any good at training or mentoring, often this is the case.
If you are going to set up an inspection process I would recommend an Oil Sampling service like CAT Finning provide.
Here you can purchase sampling kits (they also do fuel and coolant) provide a return envelope, bottle, tube and plastic closure bag to post your samples to their laboratory.
The results are then posted via their on-line database within a couple of days.
You need to know what to look for, this is where training is required
Samples have to be taken in a certain way from the optimum take off points and the results need interpreting.
The laboratory will give you an idea after they have a trended database of six or more readings, but they don't live in your factory or facility so will not have all the information that is available to you.
Well you could buy a Laboratory and do it yourself... but the ROI would be hard to justify.
You could employ a contractor that captures Thermal, Vibration, Ultrasound and Oil Samples.
This may be a good way to start but ownership is best held eventually within the company.
Starting this way you can get some skills transferred, it's my preferred choice and one that I have used successfully before.
The issue is that they may not be any good at training or mentoring, often this is the case.
If you are going to set up an inspection process I would recommend an Oil Sampling service like CAT Finning provide.
Here you can purchase sampling kits (they also do fuel and coolant) provide a return envelope, bottle, tube and plastic closure bag to post your samples to their laboratory.
The results are then posted via their on-line database within a couple of days.
You need to know what to look for, this is where training is required
Samples have to be taken in a certain way from the optimum take off points and the results need interpreting.
The laboratory will give you an idea after they have a trended database of six or more readings, but they don't live in your factory or facility so will not have all the information that is available to you.
Lubricating your Assets
Lubrication, a piece of the reliability puzzle often ignored at high cost
Talking with a prospective client managing an operation that is totally reactive in the way they handle maintenance work, it was an interesting discussion that got right to the basics of Lubrication.
When I initially visit a business I ask questions about the key functions from a productivity and engineering perspective.
I then listen a lot to what is relayed.
I had an enquiry about 'Predictive Maintenance' asking about starting a Condition Based Maintenance plan, quite quickly it became apparent that may have to put that back until a later date.
Lubrication is at the heart of reliability, without a robust strategy for lubrication in control it is hard to move forward to predictive maintenance, this was no exception and I learnt the most from conversations on the factory floor with operators.
Lubrication was having a negative impact on the availability and reliability of their assets but nobody realised, not because anyone was incompetent, but they just never considered it and accepted their failures as common practice.
I'm often amazed how lacking lubrication strategies can be, from specification, procurement, right the way through to the application in the equipment.
When I initially visit a business I ask questions about the key functions from a productivity and engineering perspective.
I then listen a lot to what is relayed.
I had an enquiry about 'Predictive Maintenance' asking about starting a Condition Based Maintenance plan, quite quickly it became apparent that may have to put that back until a later date.
Lubrication is at the heart of reliability, without a robust strategy for lubrication in control it is hard to move forward to predictive maintenance, this was no exception and I learnt the most from conversations on the factory floor with operators.
Lubrication was having a negative impact on the availability and reliability of their assets but nobody realised, not because anyone was incompetent, but they just never considered it and accepted their failures as common practice.
I'm often amazed how lacking lubrication strategies can be, from specification, procurement, right the way through to the application in the equipment.
You can understand this when reading some OEM manuals, they will describe the transport, delivery, commissioning, safety controls, operation, strip down for cleaning, sub assembly removal, procedures for maintaining, specification of spares, suggested spare parts list, then somewhere at the back it will include two cursory pages, copied and pasted from a lubrication supplier with some pretty generic instructions, annual oil change, list of recommended oils etc.
Lubrication should never be an afterthought, it needs to be smarter, with specifications and controls.
This stuff is at the back of the manual so it can't be that important... can it?
Lubrication should never be an afterthought, it needs to be smarter, with specifications and controls.
This stuff is at the back of the manual so it can't be that important... can it?
Ignore Lubrication at your peril... a conversation some years ago with a contractor commissioning a new production line with his grease gun in hand, I asked him a silly question and got a silly answer:
Me: "What type of grease are you using in your grease gun?"
Contractor: "Just grease"
I asked if it was H1 food standard (we were in a food factory) it was as if I was now speaking a foreign language by the look on his face; we then had a chat about food safety, consumer risks and BRC compliance.
I lent him a controlled grease gun with the correct specification of H1 grease loaded, we had a further discussion about the amount of grease he was applying to the bearings and why that was important.
The point is he was an installation contractor and he had a training gap, he didn't know he had a gap, ten minutes on the shop floor and it was solved, I wasn't teaching him to 'suck eggs' and I believe he appreciated my help.
Most of the equipment I have ever looked after has rotating elements, these are often the weak point in an overall system, this I know not just from experience but from the good work that those have done before me.
We need to understand that bearings can fail early because of a number of failure modes, the main one being over or under lubrication, some studies report as much as 55% of all bearing failures are down to lubrication alone.
From my experience the failures I have witnessed have been due to too much load, heat, debris or liquid ingress. Sometimes the load and heat has been due to improper mounting or old compacted grease, sometimes no grease at all.
It's even more important when we ask our front line operators to take on the lubrication tasks, it's definitely the right thing to do and I support TPM with operator training and mentoring.
In fact I would stretch that training to include the skilled trades as you don't know what you don't know!
Having formulated and implemented a Lubrication Strategy as part of a CBM plan working alongside a predictive program, I found that one fed the other, the more outputs from the instruments I gathered, the more the existing lubrication could be reduced in some areas and enhanced in others. This was just the start.
Me: "What type of grease are you using in your grease gun?"
Contractor: "Just grease"
I asked if it was H1 food standard (we were in a food factory) it was as if I was now speaking a foreign language by the look on his face; we then had a chat about food safety, consumer risks and BRC compliance.
I lent him a controlled grease gun with the correct specification of H1 grease loaded, we had a further discussion about the amount of grease he was applying to the bearings and why that was important.
The point is he was an installation contractor and he had a training gap, he didn't know he had a gap, ten minutes on the shop floor and it was solved, I wasn't teaching him to 'suck eggs' and I believe he appreciated my help.
Most of the equipment I have ever looked after has rotating elements, these are often the weak point in an overall system, this I know not just from experience but from the good work that those have done before me.
We need to understand that bearings can fail early because of a number of failure modes, the main one being over or under lubrication, some studies report as much as 55% of all bearing failures are down to lubrication alone.
From my experience the failures I have witnessed have been due to too much load, heat, debris or liquid ingress. Sometimes the load and heat has been due to improper mounting or old compacted grease, sometimes no grease at all.
It's even more important when we ask our front line operators to take on the lubrication tasks, it's definitely the right thing to do and I support TPM with operator training and mentoring.
In fact I would stretch that training to include the skilled trades as you don't know what you don't know!
Having formulated and implemented a Lubrication Strategy as part of a CBM plan working alongside a predictive program, I found that one fed the other, the more outputs from the instruments I gathered, the more the existing lubrication could be reduced in some areas and enhanced in others. This was just the start.
Lubricant inventory could be reduced by 50%, new lubrication storage was installed, specifications tightened, procurement controlled, a supplier partnership developed, technicians and operators trained, clean replenishment tools implemented, colour coding introduced, schematics produced, workplace aids posted, machines tagged, oil sampling developed, used lube oils and containers recycled, these were just some of the measures that dramatically reduced the failure rates and reactive work.
People often say they find it hard to identify an ROI on lubrication, all of the above measures positively impacted the operations KPIs of safety, OEE, availability and reliability, it helped in delivering a Green scorecard for the Engineering and Maintenance function as well, it provided wins all around.
Personally I find it easy to quantify ROI for Lubrication best practices
Everything rotates and relies on a microscopic wedge of lubricant to keep assets from falling to bits!
In a former life I had a manager that made disparaging remarks about my lubrication best practices.
I offered to drain the oil out of his Land Rover gearbox and see how far he got at the end of shift...
I believe he received the message!
If you would like to chat about your Lubrication Strategy then give me a call or send me an email [email protected]
People often say they find it hard to identify an ROI on lubrication, all of the above measures positively impacted the operations KPIs of safety, OEE, availability and reliability, it helped in delivering a Green scorecard for the Engineering and Maintenance function as well, it provided wins all around.
Personally I find it easy to quantify ROI for Lubrication best practices
Everything rotates and relies on a microscopic wedge of lubricant to keep assets from falling to bits!
In a former life I had a manager that made disparaging remarks about my lubrication best practices.
I offered to drain the oil out of his Land Rover gearbox and see how far he got at the end of shift...
I believe he received the message!
If you would like to chat about your Lubrication Strategy then give me a call or send me an email [email protected]
Oil Sampling... Why, What, When and Where?
Listen to Jim Fitch from Noria describe why we look for 'live zones' to take our oil samples