Exterminate lube problems

Grease and oil expertise can be a serious competitive edge.

Print page

Email page

By Ricky Smith, CMRP, Contributing Editor

PlantServices.com

An enormous amount of productivity is lost because the correct oil or grease is not properly installed at the right time. Lubrication is a critical responsibility, but in many organizations effective techniques and the technicians who know and do them get little respect. Building the role of lubrication experts -- your "men in black" -- is a relatively low-cost way to materially improve reliability.

Studies have shown that 70% to 85% of equipment failures are self-induced, meaning that maintenance practices and processes are directly responsible for the failures. A recent survey I conducted online shows that poor lubrication practices represent about 40% of maintenance-related self-induced failures. In the same study, more than 80% of respondents indicated they consider lubrication to be a significant problem in their operation.

Lubrication plays a role in the operation of most equipment -- gear reducers, electric motors, chain drives, air compressors, bearings and more -- so it’s obvious that doing it properly is key to the success of capital-intensive companies.

One of the main reasons companies struggle with lubrication effectiveness is they over-rely on standard original equipment manufacturer (OEM) recommendations. Instead, lubrication activities should be driven by asset health and the true lubrication needs of the asset. The combination of the right lubrication activities and proper practices creates a significant opportunity to improve plant reliability.

Big, bad and ugly
More than 200 maintenance professionals participated in the August, 2005 survey on lubrication and its impact on reliability. The results may shock you, or they may simply validate what you are seeing in your operation. It’s clear that although some companies are doing things right when it comes to lubrication, most are not.

Do you consider lubrication to be a problem? Responses to this first question clearly show the significance of lubrication with more than 80% saying it’s a problem in their operation (Figure 1).

What percentage of your equipment downtime is related to lubrication? More than 18% of companies report that more than 20% of their equipment failures are directly related to lubrication problems (Figure 2). The first step in solving a problem is knowing you have a problem, and the next step is knowing how large the problem is.

Companies tell me they don’t have money to improve anything. If their total annual sales are $60 million, total downtime is 10% and 25% of downtime is due to improper lubrication, the lost opportunity cost due to lubrication is $1.5 million. With numbers like these, the money is there – it’s just that no one in the operation knows it or can measure the losses.

In what area do you have the most lubrication problems?  In a reactive environment, we do not focus on the real problems but on the problems that face us on a specific day. I used to work in that type of environment, but later transitioned to a very proactive environment. Based on my experience as a maintenance practitioner, I thought motors and gear reducers would be the biggest problems.

But as one can see (Figure 3), respondents say bearings are the largest problem in most organizations, with gear reducers a distant second. Only about 3% report motors as the biggest problem. It could be the motor rewind shops are not telling us the whole story -- I visited a large motor rewind facility and was shown numerous motors that had failed as a result of either lubrication bypassing a sealed bearing or being pushed through the bearing and into the motor windings.

Do you have a person dedicated to lubrication? I have seen lubricators do a great job and I have seen them do a very bad job. One thing I found consistent among the ones that did a bad job was they were all trained on the job by their predecessor. Formal training is the key to solving this problem.

Half the respondents say they have a dedicated person and half say they do not, but more than 80% have lubrication problems so apparently having a person dedicated to lubrication does not ensure it is performed correctly. To perform their job to standard, lubricators must be trained to the prerequisites of the job and then held to that standard.

Do you have a well-defined lubrication program? Having a well-defined lubrication program is key and the first step to ensuring success. Some 48% of respondents said they did; 52% said they did not.
We saw that more than 30% of all respondents say at least 10% of their equipment downtime is related to lubrication issues. It seems likely they are the ones that do not have a well-defined lubrication program. Maybe it is time to invest in one.

At what skill level is your maintenance staff in lubrication? More than 40% stated that the lubrication skill level of their maintenance staff is below three on a scale of one to 10 where 10 is highest (Figure 4). Part of the solution to the downtime issue is to train your people and make lubrication training an ongoing event.