When converting from one grease to another double check to make sure that your soap bases and oils are compatible. The short and simple way to do this is to have your supplier or an independent test lab perform a Worked Penetration test on a mixture of the greases.

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From the book "The Practical Handbook of Machinery Lubrication":

An absolute rating indicates the size above which no particle of any size will pass. It does not specify the size of the smallest opening in the media, so that a filter rated at 10 micrometers absolute will do little to reduce silt particles measuring less than 10 micrometers. Also, these filters will be ineffective every time the bypass valve opens (regardless of their absolute rating) whenever they are used in full-flow applications.

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Metrics, or KPIs, are wonderful management tools. When used properly, they help managers ensure that the organization's performance is properly aligned with its mission and goals. Regrettably, when used improperly, managers become enslaved by the metrics. I have observed instances where managers "cook the books" to make the maintenance, condition monitoring or lubrication metrics look good. So what does it mean to cook the books? Most maintenance metrics are ratios, or the product of more than one ratio, that accumulate (or roll-up) performance of a machine, group of machines, people performance skills, financial return, etc.

The metric can be "cooked" by selectively eliminating individual machines, or groups of machines, people or activities that would adversely affect performance on the metric (cooking the roll-up), misrepresenting the organization's actual performance on the parameter (cooking the numerator) or setting low expectations that fail to represent the organization's true goals (cooking the denominator). All scenarios result in misrepresentation of fact. When facts are misrepresented intentionally or knowingly, the employer's trust and confidence in the employee is broken. Sometimes the employee's actions are criminal. In most cases, they are simply unethical.
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NOVEMBER 2008

Análisis de Aceite Predictivo
27-29 México, D.F., Mexico

Best Practices for Machinery Lubrication
19-21 Bangkok, Thailand

Best Practices in Machinery Lubrication II
24-27 Daegu, Korea

Lean Plant Reliability Advantage
6-7 São Paulo, Brazil
18-19 Savannah, GA

Machinery Lubrication Level I
4-5 Kirkland, QC

Machinery Lubrication Level II
20-21 Gdansk, Poland

Oil Analysis I
4-6 Seattle, WA

Oil Analysis Level II
11-13 Point Lisas, Trinidad

Todo sobre la Lubricación de la Maquinaria
11-14 Monterrey, N.L., Mexico