Duties of Lubrication Personnel

 Following are duties of Lubrication Personnel

1. Use correct lubricants in every case and as few types as possible for the plant as a whole.
2. Apply lubricants properly.
3. Apply the correct amount of lubricant.
4. Apply lubricants at proper intervals.
5. Develop schedules for items 1 to 4 for each machine, distribute or post them, and see that they are followed.
6. Train and instruct the oilers, and arrange for lubrication clinics if the number of oilers warrants. Suppliers’ sales and engineering representatives frequently can render valuable assistance in the preparation and execution of such programs.
7. Install and use lubricating devices correctly.
8. Keep lubricants clean by keeping the oil room clean and keeping lubricant containers covered.
9. Dispense lubricants through clean, properly identified equipment.
10. Practice preventive maintenance.
11. Cooperate with the maintenance and production departments on lubrication problems.
12. Collect used oils for purification for resale or reclamation if quantity warrants.
13. Keep complete consumption records.
14. Record and analyze all lubrication connected failures and breakdowns.
15. Eliminate all accident hazards connected with lubrication.
16. Keep abreast of new developments and practices in the lubricating field by periodic consultation with a qualified lubrication engineer—staff, consultant, or supplier’s representative.
17. Minimize the total cost of lubrication, remembering that the price of an improper lubricant is a small fraction of its final cost in terms of poor service.

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Planning Outages

Most companies, as part of their annual business plan, develop an outage schedule that is based on anticipated business cycle or perceived maintenance requirements. This outage schedule contains all shutdown dates for critical production systems. Unfortunately, most of these plans do not consider the impact on capacity. An effective outage schedule should be configured to minimize loss of production capacity, product quality and the potential increase in overall operating cost that can result from poorly coordinated outage schedules. Care should be taken to assure minimal, negative impact from this schedule.

Effective shutdown management depends on absolute adherence to prescribed standards that define what type of work will be done during scheduled shutdowns. These decisions cannot be made by the maintenance planner alone. To aid in the selection, planning and implementation of outage tasks, a management team is a fundamental requirement. This team should be composed of:

·          Maintenance manager(s)

·          Maintenance planner(s)

·          Production manager(s)

·          Production planner(s)

·          Operations supervisors

·          Engineering liaison

·          Contract liaison (if needed)

·          Material/storeroom representative

·          Purchasing representative.

When the nucleus of the project team is assembled, its first order of business is to clarify the project and arrive at agreement among team members about the project’s definition and scope, as well as the basic strategy for carrying it out. An orderly process can guide you through these steps. The following sequence of activities will get your project smoothly under way:

1. It is critical for the team to spend adequate time at the beginning to study, discuss, and analyze the project.

This establishes a clear understanding of what you are dealing with. It may be necessary to research how similar projects structured their approach, or what other patterns of experience can contribute to project planning.

The purpose of this activity is to be sure you are addressing the right problem or pursuing the real opportunity.

2. When you are confident that you have a firm grasp of the situation, work up a preliminary project definition.

This preliminary definition will be subject to revision as additional information and experience is acquired.

3. Now, using this project definition, state the end-results objective of the project.

4. Then, list both the imperatives and desirables to be present in the results. That is, list the outcomes that must be present for the project to be considered successful, and list the outcomes that are not essential but that would add to the project’s success.

5. Now you are ready to generate alternative strategies that might lead you to your objective. To generate these alternatives, try brainstorming with your project team.

6. Next, evaluate the alternative strategies you have generated. Be sure that your criteria for evaluation are realistic and reflect the end results objective.

7. Evaluation allows you to choose a course of action that will meet both your project definition and end-results objective.

Effective outage planning and management is dependent on well-defined objectives. Everyone, beginning with the planner, must have a universal understanding of the specific objectives that are to be achieved during the outage.

The fundamental requirements of good objectives include:

Specific: A good objective says exactly what you want to accomplish. The definition must be both clear and concise.

Measurable:  Being specific helps make your objective measurable.

Action-oriented: When writing objectives, use statements that have action-tense verbs and are complete sentences

Realistic:  Good objectives must be attainable yet should present a challenge.

Time-limited: Set a specific time by which to achieve the objective.

Outage planning

Effective planning is the next step in the outage management process. Like all other maintenance activities, each task included in the outage plan must be fully planned. However, the finite time frame associated with a fixed duration shutdown also requires effective scheduling to assure success.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a free-form process that taps into the creative potential of a group through association of ideas. Association works as a two-way current: when a group member voices an idea, this stimulates ideas from others, which in turn leads to more ideas from the one who initiated the idea.

Brainstorming procedures

·         List all ideas offered by group members.

·         Do not evaluate or judge ideas at this time.

·         Do not discuss ideas at this time except to clarify under-standing.

·         Welcome ‘blue sky’ ideas. It’s easier to eliminate ideas later.

·         Repetition is okay. Don’t waste time sorting out duplication.

·         Encourage quantity. The more ideas you generate, the greater your chance of finding a useful one.

·         Don’t be too anxious to close the process. When a plateau is reached, let things rest and then start again.

The management team will participate in the following activities:

Initial shutdown meeting

Ninety days prior to beginning shutdown, the shutdown management team should meet to determine the boundary conditions for the upcoming outage. These initial decisions will provide the basic knowledge required to begin the planning process. The outcome of this initial meeting should:

Select shutdown tasks

 Careful evaluation of work requests is essential for effective shutdown performance.

All requested tasks should not be automatically included in the outage plan. Each request must be evaluated to determine its real strategic value and real value added.

Question past shutdown practices. Each of the tasks or projects requested for the outage should be evaluated to determine whether or not it should be included in the outage.

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