INDUSTRIAL
FEATURE
prev entive maint enance
Lubrication survey — Why
every plant needs one
I
Eur.Ing. Andrew
Monk. C.Eng.
M.I.Mech.E.,
M.E.I.
Managing
Director
Lubrisolve
Engineering
Solutions Ltd.
www.lubrisolve.co.uk
Profile:
Andrew runs a
Lubrication and
Engineering
consultancy, based
in the UK, and has
been involved in
the application of
lubricants for over
25 years in many
different parts of
the world. He is
an experienced
professional
in all aspects
of lubricants,
lubrication,
and lubricating
equipment.
n an industrial plant, no matter what
type of business operation there may
exist, there will inevitably be a wide
variety of equipment to fulfil that process,
not just the equipment involved in the
production process but all of the ancillary
plant that is necessary to keep the entire
operation flowing. This can include all of
the plant involved in transportation within
the plant, including forklifts and maybe
AGV’s (automated guided vehicles), perhaps
even heavier mobile plants.
All components of a plant are integrally
linked to the entire process and a malfunction
in any part of this intricate jigsaw can lead to
the entire operation coming to a standstill,
particularly if there is no back up plant.
All management involved in the operation
of a plant are well aware of the incredible costs
of downtime, which is why maintenance
plans must incorporate strategies where
unplanned downtime is something to be
avoided.
Most of the equipment in a plant will be
lubricated in some way, and normally each
item of the plant comes with a maintenance
manual, which should include the recommended lubricants.
Sometimes the recommended lubricants
will be in the form of a specification, i.e. viscosity recommended, and hopefully related to
a