The RELIABILITY Conference 2017 - 50:34
by Mike Johnson, AMRRI
It has been taught. There are at least eight certifications that can be achieved in the field. It's been around for decades. It functions across all Maintenance Strategies. There are over 250 oil analysis laboratories in North America alone. Yet, oil analysis as a reliability tool is still looked at as a secondary technology and not considered to be key to reliability monitoring and machine longevity.
In the world of mobile equipment, oil analysis has been used to successfully and dramatically increase oil drain intervals. To these mobile fleets, lubricants make up a significant portion of maintenance costs. The same is not true in industrial manufacturing facilities. The cost of lubricants in industrial facilities makes up only 1-3% of a plant maintenance budget on average. The opportunity for extending oil drains, while would save precious dollars in both oil purchases as well as more efficient labor, should be considered a secondary function.
Industrial oil analysis should be focused on the condition of the machine rather than the condition of the oil. During this session, you will learn:
Common vs Recommended Oil Analysis Strategies
Six Steps Required to Developing an Effective and Relevant Oil Analysis Program
How Oil Analysis Fits into the Proactive and Predictive Maintenance Strategies