Efficient Plant May 2022 - 20

feature | lubrication solutions
Fig. 1: ABC Manufacturing
Average annual maintenance spend
(3-yr. moving average)
Component Type
Motors
Gearbox
Gearmotor
Bearing
Chain
Sprockets
Blower
Pump
Hydraulic components
Total
Estimated 40% annual
savings from LM program
Annual spend
$89,460
$97,526
$15,534
$101,280
$30,203
$8,100
$14,775
$140,952
$150,213
$648,043
$259,217
Annual qty
84
62
16
1,688
123
60
3
21
321
2,378
951.2
The sheer number of bearings being replaced means that this plant is spending more than
$100,000/yr. buying bearings.
View excess MRO or lubricant costs as
" losses. " When we think about cost avoidance,
it's easy to be skeptical if we talk about
" saving " $120,000 on hydraulic component
spend. Conversely, when we talk about " losing "
$120,000 every year due to hydraulic
fl uid cleanliness, the call to action becomes
more compelling and is more likely to be
addressed by senior leadership.
One thing we haven't considered is
downtime costs. While some companies
keep detailed downtime records, including
the reason for specifi c minutes or hours of
downtime, few, if any, companies can truly
state how much downtime each year is
specifi cally caused by lubrication. Fortunately,
it's oſt en easy to justify improving
lubrication practices simply on lower MRO,
lubricant, and labor costs with production
loss avoidance becoming a bonus.
Once the magnitude of lubricant losses
purchases. Coupled with the MRO data,
the issues become crystal clear. Th e plant is
over-lubricating greased bearings, inducing
failure while increasing costs for grease
and failing hydraulic components. Th is is
driving up hydraulic-fl uid purchases due to
leakage and full or partial drains to fi x failed
components.
Where most plants go wrong in evaluating
lubrication costs is to only consider
lubricant costs. Considered as a stand-alone,
it might be tempting to look at re-negotiating
the lubricant supply contract to
achieve a price reduction or consider using
less-expensive hydraulic fl uid. Likewise, it
is tempting to seek a lower-cost supplier
for bearings or re-negotiate the fl uid-power
contract for hydraulic parts. Both are false
economies. While costs may decrease in the
short term, several years down the road the
20 | EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
true impact of lower-quality lubricants or
sub-standard replacement parts will be felt
even more severely.
An obvious question is, " Why are bearings
failing? " Th is is where many companies
get bogged down, seeking data in the form
of root cause failure analysis (RCFA) that
simply does not exist, save for the few most
costly failures where RCFA makes sense.
MRO SPEND AND PURCHASES
Instead, a more pragmatic approach is to
look at MRO spend and lubricant purchases
and pose a few simple " what if " questions:
What if we could reduce bearing purchases
by 40%? or, What if we systematically
reduce lubricant volumes by 15% each of
the next three years through proper lubrication,
cleaner hydraulic fl uid, and condition-based
oil drains?
has been established, it's time to evaluate the
costs to fi x the problem. Th is might include
using third-party support to develop new
lubrication standards, upgrading or establishing
an oil-analysis program, delivering
training to technicians, or purchasing new
fl uid-management tools. A detailed project
plan should be developed to address all key
issues.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
In a world with ever-increasing costs, asking
senior management for yet more money is
oſt en diffi cult. However, most companies
continue to invest in projects that deliver
either increased capacity or reduced costs
and that is exactly why we must think about
lubrication cost avoidance as an investment.
Fig. 2 (p.21) shows a fi ve-year lubrication
business case where estimated losses
(remember, losses not savings) are listed
together with the incremental cost to
improve current lubrication practices. In
doing so, we need to be realistic. If we have
lost close to $120,000 due to dirty hydraulic
MAY 2022
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Efficient Plant May 2022

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