Covid-19: Lessons from Lockdown

The entire world is undergoing an unprecedented lockdown due to pandemic (Covid-19) and it has affected the world economy and industries in many ways. This has thrown many challenges to different types of industries. The Indian economy is estimated to have lost over ₹32,000 crores (US$4.5 billion) every day during the first 21-days of complete lockdown.

Many industrial establishments depends on external agencies/workforce (outsourcing) for maintenance activities including preventive, predictive, lubrication based, condition monitoring, operations, etc. This may be due to economic reasons or to avoid long term commitment of employment. The concept of outsourcing has become so popular that even oil condition monitoring and machinery lubrication activities have been outsourced in most major industries. No matter what, current industrial lubrication schedules have been compromised due to Covid-19 challenges because of the limited resources, stocks/ parts availability, etc. This may not lead to immediate failures but surely may affect future operational activities. We must accept that despite the move towards automation, significant lubrication related activities are still performed manually.

Covid-19 Challenges to machinery lubrication

1. Safe work environment for all as every life is important

2. Managing the Lubrication activities & PMs with the minimum workforce (contractual & company employees)

3. Optimizing and prioritizing the Lubrication activities

4. Managing proper utilization of lubricants, spare parts, labor, etc.

5. Contamination control measures

6. Routine oil analysis to understand the lubricant health condition, components wear, and contamination monitoring

7. Filtration challenges

8. Achieving compliance of lubrication PMs with the minimum workforce

9. Re-Greasing activities

10. Fluid management activities-Disposal etc.

11. Well trained/multi-skilled/ lubrication personnel availability

Current Covid-19 situation will not just last during the lockdown but may continue to have its impact for times to come wherein social distancing, use of pandemic specific PPEs, and utilizing minimum workforce in factories would become a norm.

Certain scenarios with Covid-19 in routine lubrication activities:

• Imagine a situation where an oil change decision is needed based on the oil analysis report and the operations at the external oil laboratory have been severely disrupted due to lockdown. Even after the partial opening of the lab, the transportation of samples continues to be a challenge.

• A case when critical bearings require timely regreasing and this cannot be accomplished without the lube technicians (in most cases with existing practices).

• Filtration activity requires assessing the pre-contamination levels prior to the filtration activity.

As we could see the dependency on the routine activities are still with the external workforces in most industrial segments, Covid-19 working conditions challenges us on how we accomplish the lubrication tasks on time with limited resources. This situation might force the primary focus on the critical assets whereas non-critical assets are less prioritized unless they report an issue. In routine times itself, we strive a lot to reach more than 90% of compliance of PMs. Current lock-down conditions with less workforce and resources impact the compliance and result in a compromise on certain activities.

With the current challenges, it is essential for the lubrication teams to expand their arms not only for adhering to the routine lubrication management, but also to ensure, there is no lubrication related downtimes. Lubrication personnel need to perform their roles and responsibilities smartly to ensure lubrication reliability. They need to look for the opportunities of new technologies or methods which can help reducing or minimizing the workforce involvement and be able to get more data (on line viscosity, moisture content, particle counts, ferrous debris measurement, oil quality degradation indicating parameters) from the critical assets. RCM or Reliability Centered Maintenance is an effective approach for determining the appropriate strategy based on understanding of equipment failures data.

How do we prepare for the future?

1. People preparedness- Extensive training on Machinery lubrication – Basic to Advanced level, Industry-specific lubrication oriented.

2. Lubrication methods improvement-SOPs

3. Practicing and developing strict Lubrication Program DevelopmentContinuous improvement by monitoring the Lubrication reliability goals versus achieved, leading to further opportunities to reach world-class lubrication reliability standards.

4. Upgrading the Critical Assets lubrication monitoring with the best available In-line measurements, AI & IIOT solutions.

5. Encouraging portable oil analysis instruments usage as a first step measurement.

6. Onsite oil analysis implementation.

7. Reducing human intervention in certain PMs using real-time data management and visual monitoring tools.

Even though much-improved lubrication management/methods and oil analysis monitoring techniques have been available since long, most industries even today stick to the practice of ‘’Business as Usual” or routine approach. The big shift from the current practices to the world-class best practices is the need of the hour. This time can be best utilized to evaluate the best lubrication practices of critical assets as well as non-critical assets and to upgrade these practices to build lubrication reliability.

Role of Lubrication training

While we have been undergoing lubrication training for quite a long time, thanks to organizations like Noria, ICML, STLE etc. for keeping us updated about the best lubrication practices being followed around the world with a systematic approach to Reliability centered maintenance. Question is, to what extent we are successful in applying the best practices to our equipment. Reality is that training participants get excited about knowing the best practices and benefits in extending the machine reliability. However, they couldn’t implement the changes in the actual conditions due to financial obstacles, business as usual-behavior, OEM warranty related issues or unable to convince senior management. Approved lubrication training helps the lubrication personnel to avoid common mistakes like over lubrication, under lubrication and related issues. Specific industry training will ensure systematic and reliable execution of lubrication activities. These trainings will focus more on that particular industry critical assets management in terms of lubrication reliability. Lubrication training also helps the lubrication teams to set up their own onsite oil labs because they know what is important to measure and control.

Does Lubrication Program Development concept really help combat Covid-19 situation?

It is important to realize lubrication management is different from lubrication program development. Lubrication management is all about managing the day-to-day lubrication activities in a systematic manner. Often, we might not have proper KPIs for the lubrication management in many industries. Lubrication Program Development is what makes us future ready to be able to compete with world class lubrication standards wherein, our reliability goals are set high, so that we follow the best possible lubrication practices with minimal workforce.

A small example is the Utilization of IBC’s in large industrial complexes (Steel, Petrochemical, Refineries, etc). Intermediate bulk containers (IBC) that can be set up in individual departments of large industrial complexes which helps to establish local lube storage at the department level and will ensure to deliver the clean lubricants out. Using IBCs Lube technicians can significantly avoid going to the main stores every time when they need some lubricants. Simplified process requires minimum workforce and leads to effective execution of lubrication tasks. The cost of IBCs can be justified in terms of increased lubrication reliability and reduced man-hours etc.

A realistic Lubrication Program Development audit will help you to understand where your current lubrication practices for a critical equipment stands and advice you the necessary changes needed to achieve the world class best practices. This roadmap will help you extending the machine reliability, greater uptime, and reduced maintenance costs.

The key questions to lubrication enable reliability are what type, how much, and how often? Answering these questions will be the key to start your lubrication excellence program. Some basic steps to be followed to achieve PM program success:

• The OEM manual is an important source of information for building your preventive maintenance schedules. The lubrication section of the manual should describe the locations on each machine that should be lubricated, the type of lubricant to use at each location, the quantity of lubricant to be applied and how often to apply the lubricants.

• The lubrication routines should be scheduled preferably in a CMMS. Regardless of the system used, the maintenance department’s daily lubrication activities should be organized. Responsibility should be assigned for each lubrication function.

• Verify that the lubricants being used meet the OEM recommendations for fluid type and viscosity. Never deviate from these recommendations.

• Use only clean containers to transfer lubricants. If possible, pre-filter the lubricant as it is being added to the system.

• Maintain recommended system temperatures. Generally, industrial systems are designed to run most efficiently with bulk fluid temperatures of 110–130 °F (43–55 °C).

• Test the fluid periodically (at least every two months) to determine its physical and chemical conditions. If a change in appearance is noted, check the fluid immediately. Water content and pH of water-based fluids should be checked frequently. If a major failure occurs, test the fluid before the system is restarted. Residual contamination from a breakdown may prompt another failure.

• Change filters when indicating devices denote plugging of the element, or when fluid analysis reveals a change is needed.

• Oil Condition Monitoring

The importance of regular oil analysis is invaluable if implemented correctly. Most of the mechanical and lubrication related failures can be well identified in early stages with regular oil analysis.

Current Lockdown made it clear that every industry (medium or large scale) should implement some basic onsite oil analysis testing as a firsthand measure. We need to accept the fact that in normal conditions oil analysis reports takes an average time of 2 weeks and considering the present situation it will not be easy to get the reports within the required time.

Onsite oil analysis test facilities may not be necessarily sophisticated and expensive as it is needed to confirm the most vital physio-chemical properties for judging the oil condition. Investment for setting up the onsite oil lab depends on the type of industry, size and other factors.

These days many service providers are setting up the oil labs on rental basis too and with thier expert analysts at site. Investment depends on industry size, type and other factors.

Key benefits of On-site oil analysis

Adequate oil analysis data helps the maintenance team to efficiently manage the critical equipment and conditionbased oil changes can be implemented resulting in optimized resources and work force.

Effective oil analysis at site ensures quick results in less than 48 hours and can help the maintenance team to plan cost effective maintenance outage to ensure a minimum downtime for critical equipment.

One major advantage of on-site oil analysis is that it helps the lubrication personnel in detecting the potential failure mode in the early stages of failures. This data can be helpful in understanding the life cycle management costs and in calculating the MTBF.

Lube monitoring sensors with Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled

We often come across many online sensors and automation solutions by various reputed manufacturers; the best time to implement them is during the project stage however their usability and importance can be observed for existing critical machinery also.

Ultimate Industry 4.0 may not be commercially viable across all the industries considering the ROI and other factors. However senior management should always support these options which can reduce human intervention and provide a continuous real time data that will help in identifying the impending failures even before the scheduled oil analysis can indicate. This is the best time to assess the Reliability Centered Maintenance concepts and automation of certain measurements on the appropriate assets to fight against such unexpected situations keeping future in mind.

We understand and agree that contamination is the major root cause of the lubricated machinery failures. Contamination monitoring helps to extend the lube life, components reliability and results in reduced maintenance expenses. In case of highly sensitive critical hydraulicscontrol valves, servo drives, solenoid valves etc, we still measure contamination by sending oil samples to an external lab or by onsite particle count activity which needs workforce to move through the entire area and collect the contamination readings.

In-line contamination monitoring sensors are highly affordable and are available with most reputed manufacturers. Real time contamination monitoring data helps in performing the filtration activities on time and avoids unnecessary filtration work. Clean oil and better lubrication translates into extending its reliable and reduced maintenance costs. Contamination monitoring data can always be collected in real-time with the help of various wireless modes (cloud based) or by connecting to your SCADA or other communication systems.

Greater responsibility

Lubrication personnel should take greater responsibility now to handle the current situation to ensure no compromise on lubrication reliability. This can be achieved by identifying all opportunities for improvement that will sustain the operations of our critical equipment. Assessment of all critical equipment for possible changes in terms of contamination monitoring, wear debris monitoring and oil health monitoring by the ways of real-time sensors based monitoring, developing the primary oil monitoring facilities on-site, installation of permanent representative sampling ports, visual examination tools, etc.

Educating the lube team is a key step in launching your lubrication program. The operators and mechanics who are personally responsible for lubrication must be suitably trained. Individuals who are indirectly involved in the lubrication program should also have at least a basic awareness of the program’s goals, primary benefits, and its procedural requirements.

To be assured of our lubrication program effectiveness requires the measuring of selected parameters and the continuous trending of the data over a period. One of the parameters may be as simple as the number of failures due to poor lubrication or a ratio of the number of lubrication-related failures per total failures.

Key areas to examine and look for a solution...

• Lubricants consolidation to reduce the number of grades/brands that we use- Proper assessment must be made to ensure limited grades/brands of lube oils/greases to use in the industry. We need to be ready with the data of existing lubricant’s compatibility of equivalent grades of different manufacturers so that in case of urgency, oil change or sweetening of oil can be handled with care and confidence.

• Need to observe the advantage of synthetic oils- Although synthetic lubes are relatively expensive, they perform very well in certain extreme temperatures, pressure, shear, and loading conditions. They assure longer intervals of oil changes (if effectively managed) with minimum losses and help minimize maintenance costs and time.

• Critical bearings must be observed for automatic grease dispensing systems so that their reliable operation is well assured.

• As we go back to the basics of machinery lubrication, contamination is the greatest cause and effect of machine failures. Fundamentally major critical equipment must be observed for inline contamination monitoring solutions to take the necessary action without any delay. Remember the in-line particle counters are quite inexpensive when considering the huge cost of downtime, production losses, etc.

• Onsite oil analysis- Implementing a simple patch test kit on the site is itself the first step to onsite oil analysis. Not all the onsite oil monitoring lab options are expensive, their cost depends on the type of the industry and the level of oil monitoring that we want to implement. You might need a sophisticated oil lab in case your industry is of power generation or petrochemical/refinery type. While a cement or steel industry might need minimum test facilities.

• For small to medium scale industries, implementing patch testing kit does an excellent job in understanding the oil contamination and sometimes machine wear too.

• Having minimum portable instruments for testing viscosity, moisture, total acid number (TAN) will be sufficient to be confident of the lubricant health condition.

• For monitoring the high-speed rotary equipment and critical gearbox applications, New generation FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectrometer) instruments along with portable viscometers can accurately address the lubricant deterioration due to oxidation and can help to decide the frequency of oil top-up. These instruments are simple to operate and do not require much knowledge to operate and interpret the results.

• Critical assets must be inspected for opportunities to install inline wear monitoring sensors. These sensors can get us extremely useful information even before it is revealed in routine oil analysis.

• Bottom wear debris monitoring- Many large/heavy-duty equipment generates higher amounts of ferrous debris and it settles at the drain/bottom of the equipment. Because they are sturdy, heavy-duty in operational nature, often they might not show up failure symptoms with routine condition monitoring. There are proven sensors available and can be fitted at the bottom location to monitor the wear debris generation and these sensors are capable of distinguishing the large and small particles separately to tell you when should we take up the right inspection call clubbed with routine outages.

• Ferrography- Most critical assets can be considered for AI-based real-time wear debris analysis sensors that can give you the most accurate information about the type and severity of wear.

• Integrated approach of the oil condition monitoring can always be complemented with Vibration analysis, thermography and ultrasound technologies. While monitoring the high temperature applications, monitoring the thermal patterns along with oil analysis can provide very useful information on the lube deterioration with temperature effects. Similarly, implementing ultrasound analysis in lubrication activities can help in identifying the oil leaks, air leaks, potential contamination ingress sources and can also ensure right greasing practices for critical slow speed applications.

• Most importantly, the lubrication personnel of any industry must be well trained not only in lubrication activities but also have to be aware of the other condition monitoring technologies so as to look at the opportunities for continuous improvement to be able to minimize the human intervention.

Needless to mention, human life is invaluable and we need to protect each other. At the same time we need to ensure reliable operation of our machines so as to keep the wheels of the economy running.