MRO Today - Leveraging lubrication training

Virginia Moser Leveraging lubrication training

by Virginia Moser

Training has valuable benefits for a diverse group of people in the maintenance, reliability, and operations industry. For maintenance professionals, training develops required skills to maintain equipment reliability and extend equipment life. For salespeople working with lubricants or lubricant dependent equipment, training provides the in-depth knowledge necessary to educate customers on products and services.

Procurement professionals can leverage training courses to understand the value, utility, and tradeoffs between the two, regarding a wide variety of goods including lubricants, heavy equipment, and vendor services. Managers overseeing maintenance issues can undergo training to improve processes, implement best practices, and strengthen their leadership role.

Beyond skill and knowledge development, training can also reinforce company goals and standards, thereby unifying an entire team or organization.

Determine the scope
In order for a training program to be effective, it must be strategically chosen to meet the specific needs of its participants. Consider the steps below to ensure a positive return on investment for your training costs.
• Evaluate current skills
• Determine areas for improvement
• Identify areas where skills are not present, but needed
• Pinpoint areas of failure in facility
• Research latest trends on maximizing output from equipment

Once you have identified your team’s strengths and weakness, facility “problem areas,” and possible solutions, you can determine which training options will best fit the needs of your facility and team. For novice employees, a course on lubrication fundamentals is a great place to start. These courses ensure that your entry-level maintenance personnel understand basic concepts like friction, viscosity, viscosity grades and wear.

If a facility has regular hydraulic system failures, a course can be developed to review the basics of hydraulic system operation, types of hydraulic fluid, typical problems and their resolutions.

For experienced individuals, courses can refine current skills and, perhaps most importantly, ensure a clear and consistent approach to reliability practices. Seasoned reliability professionals can leverage courses for ongoing instruction on the latest technological advancements that improve equipment reliability and performance.

Group training sessions
A group training session led by an industry expert is an effective way to ensure that the entire team has a consistent understanding of lubrication fundamentals and processes.

The preventative maintenance department at Ponderay Newsprint Company, a paper mill in Usk, Washington, recognized a need for its staff to undergo formal training in order to ensure each individual was up to date with proper lubrication practices. Due to several occasions of improper grease applications at the mill, Ponderay felt that expert training on effective preventative maintenance practices would reduce the potential for a costly lubricant-related problem.

Through an instructor-led customized training course, the paper mill staff was trained on a centralized plan for reliability-based maintenance. In many cases, lack of consistency in maintenance practices can result in irregular servicing and reduced productivity. Making sure all personnel follow standardized guidelines often results in a noticeable improvement in results.

“Our emphasis at Ponderay is basic care of equipment to improve reliability and reduce manufacturing costs,” explains Perry Pearman, Ponderay Newsprint reliability engineer.

“The comprehensive training Chevron provided gave us the knowledge to improve our lubrication practices and helped reduce our manufacturing costs.”

Contact your lubrication provider to inquire about expert training. If they can not provide this instruction, perhaps you should reconsider lubrication providers.

Web-based training
Web-based courses provide a cost and time-effective way for individuals to expand their knowledge of important issues, trends and technologies. For companies that can’t afford to send personnel off-site for training, this offers an excellent alternative. Many online courses are interactive, animated and have easy to follow written and audible scripts. Resources like Lubricants University (http://www.lubricantsuniversity.com) offer instructional courses online covering a range of lubricant and coolant-related topics. Often, online courses incorporate a proficiency exam and a certificate of completion for passing. Importantly, online training can be an economical way of providing ongoing education.

Bob Lewis, director of training for a leading industrial distributor, decided to take Lubricants University’s “Fundamentals of Lubrication” course during the summer of 2005. “Continuing education is where the industrial industry is heading, it’s critical to learn how things like preventing wear and friction on equipment can be crucial,” explains Lewis. “It’s truly beneficial for our employees to enhance their lubrication knowledge, as customers will begin focusing on lubrication methods for their products instead of replacing parts.”

Lewis found the class so valuable he began looking at requiring it for all entry-level outside sales executives at his company.

Bottom-line results
Virtually all professionals in the maintenance, reliability, and operations industry can benefit from training programs. Whether it is through comprehensive training at the plant or a brief course online, ongoing education is valuable in maintaining and improving reliability related skills and knowledge for every role within an industrial organization. Simply put, a well executed training program drives reliability and uptime, which can improve a company’s bottom line performance.

Virginia Moser is the Training Coordinator of North American Lubricants at Chevron Products Company. If you have lubrication training questions, contact Virginia Moser at: Phone: 361-749-0981; E-mail: vmos@chevron.com.

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