What's in the Box?

I’ve spent the past week helping a client get their lubrication program back on track.

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It seems that we visited their site a few years ago, but the company (having been bought by another company) changed over in leadership a number of times; a lack of communication while people were rotating out of their positions left the organization in a bit of a pinch.

They did have some things going for them, though: a lubrication room had been built; they had purchased filter carts, sealable and reusable top-up containers; they even color-coded quick connects— all very nice elements for a lubrication program. The issue was that all this equipment was purchased about five years prior. The lube room had been built, but everything just got tossed onto a shelf or into the room.

I know you’re asking, “what’s wrong with the lubrication stuff being put in the lube room?” Well, nothing at all is wrong with storing lubrication-related items in a lube room, but everything else that they didn’t know where to put ended up going in there as well: ladders, random parts, empty boxes, paint, exploded batteries — you name it. The lube room just became a collection chamber for random items. Additionally, half of the facility had switched to a national lube supplier since being bought, and the other half was lagging by two years in making the switch.