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Justifying an Oil Analysis Program
John Itai, PDM Supervisor, Hawaiian Electric
Company
I would tell the Manager that throughout the industry, problems
with poor lube oil quality (properties/contamination) account
for over 50% of premature bearing failure.
Although he may be correct in his statement, we really won't
know for sure unless we start a sampling program as poor quality
oil cannot always be seen or felt. I would also explain that another
facet of a good oil monitoring program is wear analysis.
Component failure/wear can be detected while the fault is still
very small. This provides the Planning/Maintenance Dept. ample
time to find the proper parts/tools and plan the shutdown during
an opportune time in order to minimize the impact on production.
The worn part can be replaced prior to catastrophic failure, which
normally results in a smaller work scope due to less collateral
damage.
In order to provide additional assurance to the Manager, I would
suggest that the program be started on a few of the more critical
machines in order to minimize the initial cost of the program.
All findings would be documented and presented to the Manager
along with the avoided costs and benefits from the findings. After
an agreed upon amount of time, the decision would be made to expand
the program to all critical machinery based on the findings of
the trial program.
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