Secrets to Achieving Lubrication Excellence

Transcription

1 Secrets to Achieving Lubrication Excellence Jeremy Wright, Noria Corporation Have you ever wondered what industry leaders are doing and what makes them the leaders? In this presentation, the five main attributes of world-class organizations will be revealed. You will also learn what many companies do wrong when trying to transform to lubrication excellence so you can be sure to avoid the same mistakes and reap the benefits of becoming a top performer in the lubrication field. There are five key pillars or core attributes in lubrication excellence that all world class companies have in common. With a breakdown in just one of these areas it becomes all but impossible for the company to achieve their goals of reaching the optimum reference state. These attributes are very easy to define yet most clients struggle with the comprehension of how they work to support a world class program. The goal of this commentary is to help define, explain, and coach companies to recognize and focus on these key areas. People, Training, and Culture Noria has touted for years the rights of people. In brief this means if you want to be successful you need the right people, with the right training, given the right support, operating within the right culture, with the right tools, and following the right work plans. If any of these rights are lacking, the entire program will suffer and the work and effort in other areas will be degraded. Perhaps the single largest opportunity to make lasting change is through training. Few individuals set out with the sole purpose of doing a bad job and appropriate training serves to point already motivated individuals in the right direction. For individuals dedicated to lubrication, it is recommended that each of them attend training in machinery lubrication basics. This training should provide much of the knowledge and skills based information required for these individuals to understand what is required to achieve excellence in lubrication and will be an important and key component to achieving buy-in. Taking the concept a step further, in a plant truly wanted to be world class It is recommended the plant adopt a knowledge and skills upgrade training plan, not just for those directly responsible for lubrication, but the entire plant. The material should be tailored to the roles and responsibilities of each individual basic awareness and inspections for operators, lubrication application and contamination control for mechanics, program goals, metrics and performance tracking for management. Below is a recommendation for training and certification based on job duties. Reliable Plant 2013 Conference Proceedings

2 Training and Certification Recommendations by Job Duties Theree have been multiple case studies that demonstrate the power off an educatedd workforce. One of the most famous was conducted by the American Society for Training and Development which concludedd that an annual investment of $625 in training per employee yielded and return of $47,000. World class organizations commit 10% of annual work hours to training. Contamination Control and Proactive Maintenance As a consultant for Noria I have traveled the world helping companiess solve their lubrication troubles. In almost every case the number one lowest hanging fruit (easiest opportunity for greatest effect of bottom line while presenting the lowest cost in terms of man power, money, and energy) is contamination control. Throughout the last few years Noria has published multiple case studies on the effect that contamination has on the reliability of industrial machinery. Compiling the data from these studies and taking a step back to formulate a summary, I ve concluded that solid particles are the number one contributor to machinery failure, period. It stands to reason that if an organization wanted to make a lasting difference in terms of machinery reliability, controlling these particles should be at the top of the priority list. This can be achieved in three easy steps: Step 1: Set Cleanliness Targets. Setting a cleanliness target is free and easy to do. The target should reflect the reliability goals of the company. The cleaner the oil is the higher the likelihood thatt the machine that contains the oil will have a longer life. Careful consideration must be used as not to sett targets thatt are not achievable or cross the point of diminishing returns. Reliable Plant 2013 Conference Proceedings

3 Step 2: Take Specific Actions to Achieve the Targets. The first action item should be to focus on reducing the ingression of the contaminate. It is 10 times more cost effective to keep the particulate out than it is to take it out later on down the road. This means concentrating on headspace management (making sure that the system is sealed), cleaning new drums as they arrive, keeping the lubricant clean as it is being transported from the storage facility to the component, etc. No matter the amount of precaution taken there will always be a small amount of contaminant that does find its way to the machine. There must exist a way to remove this left over built in and generated debris. This is often as simple as employing quality filtration. Step 3: Measure Contaminant Levels Frequently. As with most any other task, if there is something to measure and a way to compare those measurements, the likelihood of success increases. In the case of particle contamination it is very easy to measure and control the action items with a simple piece of on-site equipment. A desktop particle counter may be one of the most useful tools a reliability program can have. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes from many different manufactures, but the end result for the program is the same. If it gets measured, it gets done. Lubricant Selection Most people assume the lubrication requirements for a specific application can be satisfied by using general-purpose lubricants. This assumption can no longer be made. the past lubricant selection was typically based on experience and knowledge and when asked why a particular lubricant is being used, the answer is typically that s what has always been used. Today, this approach is no longer viable due to the requirements of the current demanding environments to run faster, longer, and hotter. Machines and components are no longer designed for general purpose applications. They are being designed to do very specific functions at specific rpm s, loads, etc. In most cases this means that the general purpose lubricant of yesterday may not be the optimum selection today. Today's lubricants must satisfy extreme requirements that are specific to each application. Just because a machine will run with a particular product doesn't mean that product is ideal for the application. Most lubricant mis-specifications don't lead to sudden and catastrophic failure, but rather they shorten the average life of the lubricated components and, thus, go unnoticed. Two traps that I see a lot of clients falling into are the lure of cheap oil and the false promise of forgiveness by using expensive synthetics. When attempting to save money, one of the last place to look (if ever) is the expense of lubricants. Economy formulated lubricants are just that, lower quality, lower performance, and lower life expectancy. This strategy may save a few dollars in the very short term, but could cost millions upon millions in the long term with costly machine outages, production loss, more frequent maintenance, etc. On the opposite end of the spectrum is a practice that I ve seen a lot of lately. Plants are attempting to remedy bad lubrication practices by buying the most expensive, premium lubricants. While there are great and many benefits to purchasing quality lubricants, these lubricants cannot be used as a band aid to remedy failing programs. Good lubricants and good lubrication are mutually exclusive concepts, but work in unison. Reliable Plant 2013 Conference Proceedings

4 The Physical Act of Lubrication Many companies assume that lubrication is easy. For those of us that have been through the pain of designing and implementing a program, we know better. Just like the rights that were discussed before when referring to people, there are rights to lubrication. This means using the right product, in the right quantity, on the right frequency, while using the right procedure. Again, if any part of the process is lacking, the entire program suffers. It must all be correct. There are many methods for helping calculate some of these factors. Take for instance frequency for relubrication. I like to use a method that takes into account operational and environmental influences. I m also an engineer so I like calculations and finite answers. I use the following to help determine frequency for rolling element relubrication: It takes a lot of work to properly set up a lubrication program. This calculation will need to be done for every grease lubricated bearing in the facility. Couple that with the calculations for viscosity, film thickness, additive packages, volume, etc. and multiply that times the amount of components you have and you are looking at a daunting task. All the effort will be for nothing if it is not captured in the form of a written procedure or job plan. Not just any procedure will do. The procedure needs to be designed so that it embodies the optimum reference state for each and every individual piece of equipment. The procedure should be thorough enough to act as a training device for a person that has never completed the task. If done correctly, procedures can have an important effect on an organization. When written clearly and properly, they can help systems and people function better. If your people know what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and how not to get it wrong, you can reduce frustration and save a tremendous amount of time, money, and effort. Reliable Plant 2013 Conference Proceedings

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6 Program Metrics and Oil Analysis Metrics, or key performance indicators (KPI s), are wonderful management tools. When used properly, they help managers ensure that the organization s performance is properly aligned with its mission and goals. When used improperly, managers become enslaved by the metrics. In most organizations, upper management holds lower-level managers, supervisors, engineers, technicians and craftspeople accountable for hitting their targets on KPIs and other metrics. In the right environment, this can help drive change. In the wrong environment, it can drive otherwise ethical employees to the point that they are willing to change and misrepresent data in their favor. Who really wins if the metrics we are using are not as accurate as possible? Experts agree that the best way to overcome a catastrophic machine failure is not to have one in the first place. However, those in the maintenance field understand that machine reliability comes at a price. Inevitably, the more reliable you want a machine to be the more money, time and energy you must spend on that machine. Monitoring key performance indicators of machine reliability alone may fail to control wasteful and ineffective expenditures that were half-heartedly intended to reduce failure and downtime. To the other extreme, initiatives that slash current maintenance expenditures without considering long-term reliability consequences are just as foolish. For most companies, you are what you measure. Metrics shape and define an organization. Modern maintenance strategies involve the deployment of many performance metrics directed at optimizing machine reliability. A well-conceived maintenance dashboard is a command post of key performance indicators, some leading indicators (what s going to happen), and some lagging (what did or is happening). It broadcasts those measures that are the most important at a macro level but enables greater detail and specificity on command. A reliability command post should report good news and bad news in near real time, depending on priority (risk, criticality, etc. The most serious alerts should be quickly voiced to planners and schedulers to allow prompt interventions to be carried out on the fly. Managers must be very careful what is measured. Most people are programmed to work to the metric. Selecting the right mix of metrics has the potential to produce stellar performance. However, if you make metric mistakes, you sadly risk unrealized goals or even disaster. When used properly, measurement and metrics can be a powerful asset to managers who are determined to drive change and improvement and keep things on the right track. Reliable Plant 2013 Conference Proceedings