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Transitioning to a New Lube Supplier
JC Coxon, Reliability Manager, Rohm and Haas
We were faced with this exact scenario last year. I tackled the
problem by enlisting the help of our new lubricant supplier and
two engineering interns. First, a comprehensive list of all our
equipment was compiled from our CMMS system. We then identified
all existing Supplier A lubricants being used, this is where the
interns came into play by performing field surveys, reading PM's,
and researching IOM manuals.
With the list of existing lubricants in hand, supplier B was
able to perform a compatibility analysis and also to make recommendations
on how we could significantly reduce the number of new lubricants
we needed to stock.
The added benefit was to increase volumes on fewer products which
also helped to lower our costs. One of the major elements that
enabled us to make this transition without incident was our use
of a generic lubricant numbering system, i.e. we don't call out
specific products or viscosities. Instead, we use a "G-1,2,3..."
and "O-1,2,3..." codes for each grease and oil respectively. This
enables us make product changes that are transparent to our CMMS
and visual factory system.
To date (18 months) we haven't had one incompatibility/reliability
issue that has arisen from this change.
See other responses
to this Readers Challenge.
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