March 10, 2007
Some Perspective about Differences in Lubricant Brands
Successful machinery lubrication practices are not expressly dependent on the brand that has been selected. It doesn’t matter if the brand selected was Chevron GST 32 or Emma Sue’s ECO-Recycle 32 if the lubricant condition is taken for granted. Brand is not un-important, but brand alone does not represent a ‘quality’ machinery lubrication plan.
A bit of perspective on Differences in Lubricant Quality
Successful machinery lubrication practices are not expressly dependent on the brand that has been selected. It doesn’t matter if the brand selected was Chevron GST 32 or Emma Sue’s ECO-Recycle 32 if the lubricant condition is taken for granted. Obviously, a quality product like the GST 32 can age more graciously, but ultimately the degree of protection that the lubricant provides will depend on the state of the practice in place at the plant to manage that lubricant throughout its lifecycle.
Success in machine lubrication is dependent on what is done with whatever lubricant happens to be in place. Getting any one of the many quality brand’s into the plant is only the beginning of the process. Managing the selection, application and renewal of the selected lubricant will determine whether reliability is going to be improved or degraded by plant lubrication practices.
Reducing the use-cost of machine lubrication (not to be confused with the purchase price) is also dependent on improving lubricant management. As a line-item, lubricants represent between one and three percent of the typical industrial (steel, tire/rubber, paper, cement, chemical, automotive, mining, etc…) budget. Plants that use process lubricants (aluminum and steel works, metal working applications) will tend toward the three percent, while the great majority will be well under two percent.
The use-cost of machine lubrication represents ALL the other costs that are either directly or indirectly influenced by how the lubricant is managed. Regrettably, this sliver of a line-item in the budget directly, and often negatively, effects 50 percent of the balance of the budget line-item costs (lubricated component replacement at 15%, overtime labor at 10%, and standard labor at 25% of the budget respectively. (These are round numbers. It these numbers don’t seem right then take a look at your own and let me know what you find).
