Machinery Lubrication May June 2011 - Welcome to ECN Digital ...

AS I SEE IT
Lubricant
Consolidation
Reaping the Benefits and Savings
BY JIM FITCH, NORIA CORPORATION
In the interest of reducing purchasing costs and streamlining
storage and handling, many organizations have substantially
slashed the number of lubricant SKUs (stock keeping units) they
use. They have also re-engineered the precision of their lubricant
specification. There are many real and a couple of somewhat imaginary
benefits to these consolidation initiatives. Let’s start with the
real benefits.
These include:
• Reducing stale inventory by directing more turnover (usage)
across fewer lubricant products
• Purging discontinued or hard-to-find lubricants from lubricant
storerooms
• Sole sourcing lubricants to a single distributor and perhaps
brand to simplify the purchasing function and leverage volume
buying (see figure 1)
• Enhance usage convenience and lower risk of accidental crosscontamination
(fewer drum pumps, transfer systems, filter
carts, top-up containers, etc.)
• Re-engineering and enhancing lubricant selection especially for
machines utilizing lubricants that have drifted out of spec
(perhaps as a result of several past consolidation attempts)
The imaginary relates to the false reality that limiting lubricant
SKUs to the catalog products of a single major brand can optimize
the selection and number of lubricants in typical process industry
plants and factories. For instance, some chemical plants have
reported as many as 80,000 lube points, all requiring periodic relubrication.
Many of these same companies have bloated inventories
of lubricants from as many as 25 brands of more than 200 unique
products. These are the companies that stand to benefit the most
from consolidation.
Of course, along with the potential for benefits and savings,
there are also many real risks and concerns. Most of these are associated
with cutting corners and failing to do proper lubrication
engineering. This can be avoided by making technically sound decisions
with the support and advice of qualified lubrication advisors.
Some lubricant suppliers have these capabilities, but others do not.
After all, one or two harsh machine failures from placing the wrong
6 May - June 2011 www.machinerylubrication.com Machinery Lubrication