Up Time Magazine- June/July 2008

lubrication upload Progress in Leaps & Bounds PdM Program ofthe Year A Look at the Westar Energy Oil Analysis Program by Mark Mayworm & Bruce Sackman n 2002, Westar Energy made the decision to aggressively implement a lubrication management program throughout its six plant facilities. Management recognized that change needed to start with education and training. With the oil analysis program in need of an overhaul, oil analysis training began for predictive maintenance technicians, operators, mechanics and supervisors. Westar has since capitalized on what they learned, and continuing education is resulting in big successes company-wide. The primary motivator behind this new philosophy was the need to move from a Time-Based to a ConditionBased maintenance practice in order to reduce costs, to maintain equipment and to improve reliability, and to do so at a much lower cost. Prior to 2002, free vendor oil analysis was being utilized on a small portion of the plants equipment. From these results, reports were not fully understood and were primarily used as a flag to change oil in a particular machine. The oil analysis program started out utilizing a professional lab service, but quickly evolved into an in-house program Manned by seven PdM technicians who are actively involved in the oil sample collection and data analysis process. Management realized that, in order to reach a high level of reliability and confidence in the Oil Analysis Program, education for all plant personnel would be key to its success. I Phase Two Several months into the program, we pondered the possibility of bringing the oil analysis program in-house. Considering the fact that we were sending roughly 280 samples per month to the lab, we knew there would be a definite cost savings. Since we would have results in less than an hour compared to 24 or 48 hours for off-site testing, another large benefit would be the opportunity to react much quicker to a possible problem. Comparing costs and payback, we decided to implement an in-house oil analysis program, so we could screen and analyze oil samples and then only send samples that were questionable to the professional lab. The in-house oil lab that we selected worked in conjunction with our vibration analysis software, so test results could be seen and analyzed by many people at any of our plant locations through a Wide Area Networking software application (Figure 1). It was at this point that we realized education in oil analysis and lubrication management was essential to a successful program. The Beginning The very first step Westar took was to identify a professional lab to process and analyze the oil samples. The professional lab was very helpful in selecting the type of tests to be run on the various types of machines in our plants. Equipment Data sheets were completed for each of the plants’ selected critical equipment. At this point we were confident that we would just have to pull samples once a month, send them to the lab and wait for the reports. We just assumed the reports would be very clear and advise us of any problems and actions that should be taken. We did not have any real education as to the proper methods of where oil samples should be taken or how it should be collected. So, it is easy to understand the confusion that erupted when the reports began to come back as “Marginal” or “Critical”. These results raised questions that we posed to the lab. However, they could only base recommendations on the results. They could not adjust results based on whether our oil sample collecting methods were correct, nor could they predict whether the possibility of a false positive or negative was high or low. Education Basic Oil Analysis training from our professional lab took place on-site in March of 2002. In April of 2002, we received formal training from a professional lubrication consultant consisting of Oil Analysis I & II training courses. Attendees included maintenance and operations personnel, supervisors and PdM technicians. The training provided a clear understanding of the importance of lubrication to machinery reliability, health and extended component life. Basic key components were learned which we could implement immediately, such as: • • • • Proper sampling locations Proper sampling techniques Types of tests for particular machinery Analysis and interpretation 24 june/july 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Up Time Magazine- June/July 2008

Up Time Magazine- June/July 2008 Contents Upfront Upclose: The True Cause of Most Machine Failures Information Technology: Finding Future Perfect Lubrication: Building an Oil Analysis Winner Maintenance Management: Hidden Ways to Increase Safety Infrared: Air Barriers Lower Energy Costs, Increase Profits Motor Testing: Efficient Motor Repair, Part Deux Precision Maintenance: Good Maintenance, Smart Maintenance Reliability: Common Errors in Root Cause Analysis Ultrasound: Avoid the Baghouse Blues Vibration: Don't Let Your Sensors Get Eaten Alive Upgrade: Lining It All Up

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