By Ed Sullivan, freelance technical writer for Power PR
BRUSSELS,
Jan. 17, 2012
(RISI) -
Despite millions of dollars spent to improve machine condition and reliability, improper lubrication is still cited as the primary cause of premature equipment failure today. One of the reasons may be the complexity of hundreds of thousands of lube tasks required each year. Read Part I here.
Traditional lubrication methods
At its most basic, plants rely on a technician armed with a grease gun and human memory to track lube points. Although these technicians do a stellar job with the tools they are given, human memory is fallible and mistakes can be made and lube points missed.
Not only that, but what happens when the technician is sick, leaves the company, or retires? Replacing his expertise and knowledge can take considerable time, training, and expense.
"Even the smartest, most meticulous technician can forget things from day to day," says Wanstreet. "Even the best techs may not remember that one pump takes a certain type of oil because it is running hot and another pump takes different oil because it is not.
"This is even more of an issue when a tech is filling in for someone else and is not familiar with the equipment," adds Wanstreet. "And missing or getting lubrication tasks wrong for any reason can cost a plant unnecessary wear and tear, repair, and ultimately production downtime."
Another solution used in many plants is the ubiquitous spreadsheet. Spreadsheets can be used to store or change information such as an inventory of equipment, lube points, and lubricants used, but are inherently static and offer no real lubrication point tracking or history. For example, spreadsheets do not calculate and schedule future lubrication tasks based on completing a current task. And if a lubrication task is missed, there's no record of it.
Although early detection tools such as oil, thermographic, or vibration analysis are used to identify and address a problem before it worsens, this approach is really more reactive than proactive. After all, if lubrication is poorly managed, early detection tools are going to repeatedly indicate a problem. Proper lubrication, on the other hand, can prevent damage or excess wear before it starts.
Although CMMS systems work very well for managing preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective work at the equipment level, they are not built for detailed tracking of individual lube tasks, particularly at high volume. Even so, CMMS systems are often utilized for this very purpose and this is where the difficulty begins.
To compensate for a lack of lubrication focus and detail, CMMS systems rely on a series of lubrication preventive maintenances, arranged according to lubricant type, frequency, and plant location. However, it can be time consuming to sort through multiple PMs to view lubrication requirements for a specific piece of equipment. Furthermore, if a change is required to the type of lubricant, which is typically stored in a text field, or frequency, each applicable PM must be found and each detailed line item requiring a change corrected.
CMMS systems can also fail to record if an individual lubrication task is completed or not, since such information is usually embedded in block PM lists of many tasks. If a technician completes several of the lubrication tasks, but not all of them, he must decide to clear the entire work order, or leave it open. If the work order is cleared, which is often the case, once again human memory comes in to play and lube points missed.
"We have a CMMS system but it doesn't give us the in-depth lubrication data we need," says Wanstreet. "We need lubrication data not only for each piece of equipment but also for each lube point, when it's due, and who did it. If it's late, we need automatic follow up so nothing is missed."
A new focus on lubrication reliability
What's needed is an approach dedicated to lubrication because hundreds of thousands of annual lubrication tasks are virtually impossible to adequately manage through human memory, a spreadsheet, early detection tools, or buried in lists of PM work orders.
Fortunately, dedicated lubrication software is now transforming industrial lubrication management from an error-prone manual chore or inadequate CMMS effort into a predictable, automated process.
By managing every lubrication task so responsibilities are always clear and known, lubrication management software is helping to improve machine condition and equipment reliability. It is also maximizing staff productivity, safeguarding mission-critical lubrication knowledge, cutting energy cost, and reducing reactive corrective maintenance.
For instance, LUBE-IT by Generation Systems, an Issaquah, WA-based developer of lubrication-specific tracking and management software, offers task specific scheduling and tracking management to ensure that the right lubricant gets to the right place at the right time in the right amount, using the right procedure or technique, all the time.
Each lube point and related tasks are inventoried including location, capacity, activity type, procedure, frequency, route and shutdown requirements. From that, the software manages all these lube tasks automatically and simplifies changes to any of the variables as needed. Once it has all the lube points, the software will reschedule a task based on when it was completed. Uncompleted tasks are presented with the next week's activities until they are completed.
In this way, the software takes responsibility for hundreds of thousands of lubrication tasks annually, essentially ensuring that none are left behind as a result of the tracking/organizational system itself.
KapStone's Charleston mill turned to Generation Systems' dedicated lubrication management software. "LUBE-IT eliminates the issue of missing or incorrect lubrication and keeps our techs working at maximum efficiency," says Wanstreet. "It allows our techs to focus on what needs to be done and take over without missing anything if someone is out. If I need to change a lubrication task I can do it in seconds, and everything is updated so we're on the same page."
With the software, reliability engineers and plant managers can quickly view the details and history of any lubrication point, including notifications of any equipment issues identified during the lubrication activity.
Details for each lube task are available via paper-based lists or rugged mobile computing devices so lubrication tasks that need to be completed are clear and known each week. Since the software dynamically releases that work for individual tasks, the lube tasks will only appear when needed based on its frequency.
"We're a 24-hour operation, so if my techs need to know what type of oil goes into any lube point in any piece of equipment in middle of the night, they can look it up in the software and get the answers they need," says Wanstreet. "It's helped me with scheduling, prioritizing, and coaching and training my techs.
"Since we've been using LUBE-IT, we're staying on top of lubrication tasks without forgetting any," concludes Wanstreet. "I estimate we're getting about 25% more equipment uptime with fewer staff, with ROI in about one year."
For more info, www.generationsystems.com
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