Understanding The Ways In Which Poor Lubrication Can Degrade Machinery
Oil costs for any business are much more than what they see on the per gallon price tag. When considering what it takes to make the oil functional, business are responsible for disposal costs and labor expenses alike. Which means that even if a gallon of oil costs them $5, what they’re actually paying for a gallon can be upwards of 40x that considering the labor costs associated with the oil.
For the sake of reducing the costs attributed to your organization’s machinery, it’s best to keep this machinery performing at the highest levels. This is best accomplished through maintenance, specifically proper lubrication and completing regular oil changes. While it can be hard to find the time to take equipment out of its normal output schedule, failure to do so for the sake of maintenance will likely cost any organization more in the future.
What types of additional costs would an organization incur as a result of this improper lubrication, though? The first is the cost associated with all of the unnecessary oil changes scheduled. What businesses tend to do is think that a complex problem can be solved through an oil change. When they realize that the oil change didn’t contribute anything meaningful to the condition of their equipment, it’s too late as the valuable resources and time are already wasted.
Building off of this unnecessary oil change dilemma, many organizations are faced with costs associated to damages with their machinery. This can be a result of an employee mistake, or perhaps enough time has passed without maintenance to cause that damage. One example that leads off into more dangers for an organization could go something like this: an over or under-filling of the sump or reservoir, which then introduces contaminated or incorrect product with leakage causing serious damage. Resolving this damage will require maintenance and subsequent downtime, which means more expenses necessary to face.
The ultimate cost that organizations are faced with comes in the form of equipment failure. Though the cause may vary, most machinery fails as a result of bearing malfunctions. Almost half of all reported machine failures can be attributed to improper lubrication or re-lubrication of bearings. The costs to replace these parts are very high and can likely still lead to non-operational equipment if not replaced properly.
It’s clear that the costs associated with a poorly handled maintenance schedule, specifically related to lubrication, can cost your organization some serious capital to resolve. If your organization was hoping to avoid facing any of these costs, it’s necessary to understand the available options when it comes to lubrication. Preventive solutions and different upgrades can keep any piece of machinery in commission for longer periods of time without issue. To learn more about how to integrate these methods into your organization, be sure to continue reading on through the infographic coupled alongside this post. Courtesy of Isomag.
