Lubrication Excellence!
| Wednesday, January 15, 2014
When it comes to eliminating failure modes and improving equipment reliability, developing a sound lubrication programme might be the first place every company should begin. For whatever reason, companies around the world have always ignored the fundamental elements of a good lubrication programme.
Lubrication is second to housekeeping when it comes to compounding failure modes. Whereas housekeeping and the failures that result from poor housekeeping can, in most cases, be attributed to poor leadership, the failures we attribute to some form of improper lubrication are a result of ignorance.
This ignorance or lack of understanding can be at one or multiple levels of your business. People simply do not understand the fact that the people who lubricate your equipment need to be Machine Lubrication Technician (MLT) trained and certified. The days of hiring someone off the street with no technical skills to perform lubrication tasks are gone; also gone are the days when lubrication was performed by everyone and anyone.
Consider this, Applied Industrial Technologies reports via Machinery Lubrication that 40 to 50 percent of all bearing failures are related to improper lubrication, with causes including: incorrect lubricant or quantity, improper application, contamination, or degradation. (Applied Industrial Technologies, 2009).
The reality is simple: if your company has not upgraded its lubrication programme and has not recognized the need for Certified Lubrication Technicians, the time to change that is now.
