PURCHASING
FEATURE
lubr icants supply
Guide to purchasing lubricants
A
story is
told of
a once
leading
public service
company who
when faced
with dwindling
By Joseph
fortunes,
Ndung’u
embarked on
Mr Ndung’u has
been working in
cost cutting
the lubricants
measures. One
industry for the
area that was
past 8 years in
targeted was
area of Sales &
lubricants
Marketing and
Technical support supply. It so
happened
that around the same time,
an independent ‘’lubricants
‘’company had just launched its
products which were retailing at
an unimaginably low price. This
was God sent to the procurement
personnel and they immediately
switched to this new supplier. A
few months down the line, the
cheap oil that had been hailed as
the ultimate cost saver, became
the company’s worst nightmare
when the engines began breaking
down one after the other. This
story best illustrates a classical
case of ‘false economy ‘ whereby
initial savings accrued from
purchasing a cheap product,
became gobbled up in the future
due to non-performance of the
product resulting in massive
losses. Now, where is this more
true than in the realms of the
world of lubricants?
What should one consider when
purchasing lubricants?
10
What should one consider
when purchasing lubricants?
Manufacturer’s
recommendation
Lubrication is a design element of every
machinery. As such, the equipment manufacturer will specify the minimum acceptable
quality of lubricant to be used. This is the
called the OEM approved standards and
should be the principle guiding tool. Purchasing a lower quality than specified is likely to
be cheap on the basis of price but is guaranteed to wreck the machinery either after a
few hours of running or over a period of time.
Stick to the OEM prescribed specifications no
matter the cost of the product.
In both cases, any lubricant produced bears
a batch number and each batch has a certificate of analysis showing how the product met
the required parameters during production.
This guarantees that the quality of product
being supplied meets the specifications
claimed on its data sheet.
Lubrication equipment
The technical services offered
A good lubes supplier should be able to
provide technical support related to lubricants and lubrication. This includes products
recommendations, trouble shooting lubes
related problems, fluid condition monitoring,
and lubrication surveys and training. The
importance of good technical support cannot
be underestimated. With staff turnover at a
factory, it is likely that a newly employed technician might not be conversant with the lubes
application. This can be sorted out by the
lubes supplier through training. Additionally,
a recurrent maintenance headache could be
as a direct result of wrong choice of lubricant.
A competent lubes supplier should be able
to work closely with the maintenance staff to
provide a solution either by way of product
recommendation or by suggesting a change
in lubrication principle e.g. reducing drainage
interval or even changing the method of
applying the lubricant.
Guarantee of quality
of the product
Each lube supplier should be able to
demonstrate the source of his product. Only
a fully fledged blending plant will produce
quality lubricants. The plant could be a local
one or an overseas one for imported products.
When the volume of lubricants being handled
is huge, it makes sense to have lubes
dispensing equipments. Many lube suppliers
are able to offer good lubrication equipment
packages to professionalize handling of
lubes. In most cases, they will require that the
supply contrac