8.3 Lubricants Management

The desert-bound city of Chandler in the American Southwest operates a municipal infrastructure that includes aging machinery assets at four water treatment facilities and dozens of potable water wells, recharge wells, and pumping stations. The city hired an expert— who happens to be an ICML-certified lubrication technician and oil analyst—to develop predictive maintenance programs intended to extend the reliability and service life of these assets. Though his proposed solutions will take several years to implement fully across the board, the benefits and efficiencies have been felt almost immediately. In this presentation,we’ll provide an overview of the main water treatment facility’s lubrication conditions prior to the expert’s arrival and describe the challenges he regularly faces with regard to environmental conditions, untrained vendors, and corporate culture—even as he harvests low-hanging lubrication fruit within the scope of his broader predictive maintenance mandate. We’ll also highlight his personal emphasis on the valuable role that training and certification play in his program’s success. You’ll understand that best lubrication and oil analysis practices can produce significant ROI for any machinery maintenance program; training and certification contribute greatly to the sustainability of culture change and new processes; and a strategic road map can make implementation more efficient and sellable from the outset.

There are many new lubricants, bearings, seals, and lube accessories, but we need to do better. Ninety percent of rolling element bearings don’t reach their design life, and the main contributing factors relate to lubrication. This can mean the wrong type, too much, too little, not often enough, or not applied right. Generally, such things can be easily corrected, but a learning, productive working environment is key. Similar to hydraulics, the leading cause of equipment issues is contamination. This can be water, dirt, and/or wear. In this presentation, we’ll give you a number of examples and study results, as well as present some solutions.

Cigar Lake is Cameco’s newest uranium mine located in northern Saskatchewan. During construction it was decided that a lubrication program needed to be implemented to ensure that critical assets were properly maintained. The mine offers challenges in that there is not just one plant or area to setup. There is a fleet of equipment both underground and surface with mobile and stationary assets. In addition there is diesel power generation and a fleet of freeze compressors installed. Each area presents its own challenges and opportunities when setting up a program.There are several aspects of a lubrication program that need to work together to ensure reliability. This presentation will share Cigar Lake’s journey from ground zero towards a world class lubrication program, one that was featured in Machinery Lubrication’s 2016 Lube Room Challenge edition.Why a lubrication program is needed will be discussed. In addition, the improvements made to program management, storage and inventory management, cleanliness, product standardization and sampling will be presented. Lastly, some of the specialized assets in use at the mine will be highlighted and discussed on how they fit into the program.