LUBRICATION CONTAMINATION PREVENTION

How many articles have you read, or seminars listened to, that tout the value of contamination control? If you are like me, they number in the hundreds—if not thousands. One thing about these articles and seminars that bothers me is the word “control”.

- R. Keith Mobley

If you look up the definition of control, it’s “a function of management that helps to check for errors to take corrective actions.” It implies that we assume contamination is inevitable, and the best we can hope for is to minimize its impact. That just does not ring true and is self-limiting.

My passion is reliability, and that means being risk-averse. Regardless of my position within a corporate organization or in later years as a consultant, eliminating risks has been my prime directive and served me well in my career growth. Because of this passion, the importance of using the proper lubricant, assuring that it is free of contamination, and is dispensed correctly is fundamental to an effective asset management program.

That is why prevention, rather than control, is a far better approach. Prevention is defined as “the act of preventing something from happening.” If you want to prevent contamination, read on; otherwise, there are numerous articles on control to choose from.

What is a Successful Lubrication Program?

A successful lubrication program must start with contamination prevention. Most people acknowledge that contaminated lubricants cause accelerated wear, thermal damage, premature wear out, and catastrophic failures of the capital assets that are crucial to the continued reliability and sustainability of their manufacturing and process plants. Unfortunately, this awareness does not seem to translate into effective contamination prevention.