Publisher’s Note
During the early 90’s, an abundance of literature on lubrication was available, but the content of this literature did not provide a practical guide to setting up a lubrication plan or how to align all departments according to such a plan. Therefore, a simplified lubrication framework, which takes a holistic approach to lubrication, was devised to set up a cost-effective lubrication control system.
Having reliable equipment demands a deep understanding of equipment failure modes and strategies to prevent them. There can be a multitude of factors that lead to equipment failure. It takes a strategic approach to improve equipment reliability. Changing parts before they fail can be a solution to prevent unexpected failures or predicting equipment failures can be a solution but it is only 50% accurate. No matter your strategy, you need to be proactive in order to achieve sustainable results.
Improper lubrication is leading factor that accelerates mechanical corrosion and wear which ultimately leads to premature failure of machines. If you don't have any maintenance program implemented in your facility, make sure you pay due attention to lubrication.
Lubricant contamination is one of the major day-to-day maintenance problems. Do you think new oils are absolutely clean and free of all contaminants? The manufacturing process of the lubricants is the first possibility of contaminants entering the lubricants. The contaminants can also enter through seals making it necessary for equipment reliability experts to perform oil analysis and clean oils before making them a part of the equipment. The industrial environments where poor lubrication practices are followed experience severe mechanical wear of components. Metal components corrode rapidly due to particle contamination and use of substandard or wrong lubricants. It may seem superfluous to mention that mechanical wear takes place when machine surfaces rub against each other. Wear materials and dirt are some of the common contaminants that need to be removed from the system in order to ensure equipment reliability.
To actively eliminate all the causes of unreliability, focus on developing an effective lubrication program.
We would like to thank our readers for the immense response to our previous edition’s cover story – “Track your Lubricant’s journey to optimize machine health” and other articles. Our current issue’s cover story is “3 causes of unreliable equipment and how to eliminate them” which will help our readers to understand the reasons of equipment failure.
I cannot sign off without giving special thanks to our advertisers, subscribers and authors. We welcome suggestions. your feedback & Wishing you all “Happy and Prosperous New Year 2019” filled with abundance joy and treasured moments.
Warm regards,
Udey Dhir
