Lubrication maintenance reduces the potential for costly downtime
“Poor or inadequate lubrication is the primary cause of 70% of industrial equipment wear and failure,” wrote Ken Bannister in his 2014 work, State of the Lubrication Nation. A robust oil condition monitoring and lubrication solutions programme should therefore be at the core of every asset maintenance strategy.
Working with a trusted product and services solutions provider such as RS can help with this. Its industrial lubrication experts, including in-house ICML-certified scientists, can identify the correct lubricant and its application as well as conducted certified lab analysis to determine wear, chemistry and contamination.
The results? Reduced risk of machine failure and unnecessary (and costly) downtime, as this example demonstrates.
The challenge
The RS Maintenance Solutions team took on a new contract for a global agricultural and food products provider. Its Liverpool site is home to a food production plant and refinery that manufactures products for use in the food chain, animal feed and technical uses such as biodiesel.
At the beginning of the contract, RS lubrication solutions engineers initially reviewed site standards and identified best practice management to keep lubrication-related faults in check. During the audit, it became apparent that the single most critical asset on the site, the shaker, was making excessive noise and had been for several months. Even though its failure could have led to a significant period of downtime, it was an issue that hadn’t been addressed by the previous lubrication services provider and had since become widely accepted as the norm.
The Solution
When RS took on the site contract to regularly inspect equipment, the RS lubrication engineers were immediately concerned by the shaker, flagging not only the noise but the reliability of an oil level gauge in use for the asset. While the oil level visibly appeared to work, the readout was unclear because the unit was shaking. In reality, the unit had very little oil, with the apparent oil level actually a stain caused by oxidised oil build-up on the sight glass. Running the unit with virtually no oil would eventually lead to failure and bring the plant to a standstill.
Once the RS engineering team had identified the fault, they decided to take remedial action during a planned outage to minimise disruption. Working around other time-critical work being carried out on the shaker, the RS team cleaned down the asset and refilled it with oil, also replacing the faulty 2D sight-glass with a 3D equivalent to ensure the same issue did not reoccur in the future.
Upon restart of the shaker, there was a noticeable and immediate reduction in noise. Because of the critical nature of the asset and the excessive lead times for replacements, RS’s engineers recommended that the customer also considered obtaining a critical spare for the site, which has since been actioned.
The outcome
The customer has praised the positive changes and the work of RS engineers since RS took over the lubrication solutions management contract. Had the shaker failed, it could have led to an estimated 60 hours of potential downtime at a cost of around £300,000, with an additional £110,000 for a replacement. With lead times for part delivery potentially running into several months, the resulting costs and impact on production would have been significant.
“Well deployed lubrication application is vital to the health of rotating machinery, while oil analysis provides key indicators of machine health,” says Rob Webster, Head of Condition Monitoring and Asset Management at RS.
“We partner with customers to keep lubrication programmes in check by auditing their existing programmes, keeping assets lubricated and recommending changes to improve machine health and lifespan.
From the design and supply of lubrication to the management of fluid handling to eliminate contamination, RS Maintenance Solutions’ services save time and money for our customers and keep their machines and productivity on the move.”
For more information about lubrication maintenance, click here
