Industrial Lubrication

[msparks]

Kind of funny how Industry uses probably 50 times more lubricants than any other but there are very few posts on here.

My guess is that industrial maintenance techs are not being informed or taught about new lubrication technoligies.

 

[msparks]

Well,

I am getting set up to make a presentation at a local vocation tech school that has a maintenance technology program.

The instructor say's they breifly go over lubrication, but didn't mention oil analysis or filtration.

So now I'm getting a presention together. I'm thinking of doing it on Power point and having a CD with a lot of resources for it. I'll sell the CD for $1 to cover my costs. What do you think?

 

[427Z06]

I think one student will buy it, then burn copies of it and sell it to other interested students for a 50 cents.

 

[salesrep]

Ms Great idea. you never know. I would make the students make the effort and offer the cd. Have them fill out there info, address (where they work

) etc. If the want a copy of the cd or additional info you may want to offer such as.
Cost analysis
uoa's
more info on greases
gear oils
etc.
ps. I'll take one for a buck plus postage.

 

[jct]

At our mill we have a complete oiling program. We have a dedicated oiling group and thats all they do is maintain oil levels on pumps and grease bearings and couplings. On annual outages we contract with suppliers who send in crews to change the oil in pumps (several thousand). When pump bearings fail we do RCFA's (Root Cause Failure Analysis) and this includes oil analysis, bearing analysis, vibration and temps. We have a separate vibration group who monitor vibration and temps, we have all the latest gadgets for this and every pump and bearing is updated weekly in the computer. We keep a history on all this so when a bearing starts to fail unless it's a catastrophic failure you can see trends and plan to change out that bearing on an outage instead of during the run cycle which in our case can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in a short period of time. Oil plays a big part of our operation, on one paper machine we have 10 different hydraulic units each with it's own resivoir of about 500 gallons each and 3 different lube oil units of about 5000 gallons each, oil analysis is done according to the manufacturers specs. We have a group in our company that goes from mill to mill checks our data and then goes into the field and do spot checks, then they rate you on how well you are doing and this rating is posted company wide. Which means your rating is tied to capital investments to your mill, if you are taking care of your mill you get more money than the guys who don't. In this day and age of plant closures it pays to stay on top

 

[salesrep]

It seems as though the larger co.s are instituting programs like this , while the smaller co.s still have to be convinced that programs such as these are a cost benefit.

 

[tom slick]

I'd love to have discussions here on industrial topics but nobody seems to want to talk.
I think the other problem is very few people are obsessive/compulsive about industrial stuff. cars on the other hand...

 

[labman]

I don't have any industrial equipment in my care now. 25 years ago, when I did, I asked an engineer about what oil I should be using. To get rid of me, he said stick to the owners' manual. Trouble is, they didn't make some of that stuff any more, or at least it was hard to find. I also felt that maybe there was better stuff available in 1980 than 1940 or even 1960. Good info was hard to find. Best bet might be a knowledgeable salesman.

 

[Jaybird]

I think if you dig, you will find that industrial petroleum consumption is just slightly behind that of automobile lubricant use.

Still, a huge market.

In my experience, industry is picking up more and more on lubrication preventative and predictive maintenance programs. Especially in the larger manufacturing and automobile mfg. sectors.

The factory oilers job has evolved from a retirees last leg sort of job, to a job closer resembling a skilled trade.
Oilers are becoming more and more familiar with "proper" lubrication of machinery. Many are getting involved with training for specific machinery, as well as training on proper choices for lubricants and their application.

They are also becoming more familiar with testing of lubricants. Most of us here understand that testing is the single most important factor involved with predictive lubrication maintenance. The benefits of testing oils for diagnostic purposes saves the mfg countless dollars each year.
With the realization of the huge money saving potential a good lubrication maintenance schedule can provide, the smart ones in industry are demanding their people keep up on the technology and methodology.

 

[msparks]

quote:

---

Originally posted by tom slick:

I think the other problem is very few people are obsessive/compulsive about industrial stuff. cars on the other hand...

---

I think you are 100% right.

It would be kind of cool to go into a company and teach a few folks how to become obsessive/compulsive about lubrication.

"Dear sir/man. If I can show you how to save $50,000 would you pay me half of that in salary?"
Have 2 or 3 you do that with you can see a 6 figure income really quick.

 

[MolaKule]

quote:

---

I'd love to have discussions here on industrial topics but nobody seems to want to talk.
I think the other problem is very few people are obsessive/compulsive about industrial stuff. cars on the other hand...

---

Hey, I love to talk hydraulic's trash!

 

[Jaybird]

Mola,
I think one of the biggest money eaters in the industrial world are leaks from Marmac and similar hydralic units.

It seems like they are always leaking at the seals, and filling the catch sumps with good oil that has to be replaced. (barrels and barrels)

Could the fluids being used have a big effect on seal longevity, or is it possible that installation error could account for the high failure rate?

 

[salesrep]

Fluids definitly can make a diference in leaks in hydraulic applications. Antifoam adds and seal swellants along with heat handling abilities can and do make a dif.
A higher quality hyraulic fluid that can reduce leaks will pay for itself very quickly.

 

[widman]

I spend a good part of my time teaching in the vocational schools and universities, as well as oil fields and power plants, industrial plants, etc. about industrial lubrication.
I often give out CD's. Sometimes with my website in autorun, as a lot of times they have no access to the internet, and most of my site is dedicated to industrial lubrication.

Here education is sevberely lacking, equipment comes with bad recomendations (I saw a Chinese made front end loader the other day that recommeded the use in the convertir (Komatsu copy) oil that meets SAE 40, TDH ISO 46, API GL-5 specs. I had to take the chinese manuals, the equipment and the mechanics and figure out the best oils for each compartment.
xI find some hydraulic oils that oxidize to double viscosity in 500 hours of operation. We have a country where the lowest bidder gets a lot of contracts, and there is no standard for what you can call "hydraulic oil", although motor oil must be at least a CD when imported. (they forgot to regulate the retail side) So some people import CC oils as hydraulic oils and sell them as motor oils.
Some manufacturere os equipment have told me they don't recommend the latest oils because people won't by their equipment if they are told they need CI-4, borate gear oils, or anything else not found in the corner oil shop.
I check in this section as time permits, which has not been a lot lately.

 

[frankiee]

I think industry is large corperation and that it takes a long time to change any little thing.
I work on ship and I can not get any of the heads to order me any nitrile gloves to wear. I think that my hands are in used lubricant alot and that it is a safety issur but to get any body to "rock the boat" and order something new is like pulling snake teeth.
Also it is a game of pass the buck of accountability: I a $5,000,000.00 engine self destructs, all the head people want to cover themselves by saying that they used the engine manufactures recomondations to a tee.
In that case I can't blame them.
There is a lot of finger pointing that goes on in industry.
I also would like to come to this forum and talk industry lubrication but I know that I would not be able to add any thing much to the conversation because my company and my department (marine engineering) only does things that are in the book. Its not my call. Its the engineering superintendants I guess.
But I know that not much changes even though it should.