by Jeff Walkup, Vice President, Sales & Marketing
For the sake of this illustration, let’s think of Oil Analysis in the context of military intelligence.
Military intelligence is defined as “a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a range of sources, directed towards the commanders’ mission requirements, or responding to questions as part of operational or campaign planning. To provide an analysis, the commander’s information requirements are first identified, which are then incorporated into intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination”.
Oil Analysis is a tool, a weapon of sorts, and is one of many available to a skilled maintenance professional – or a solider for comparison. It is a snapshot-in-time and the intelligence it provides is only good for a short window of time. The longer the widow goes, the closer it gets to the next service interval and that intelligence becomes less relevant, less critical and loses its value. Testing providers cannot do their jobs until that sample is safely in their hands. Then its up to the lab to test, to analyze and then disseminate that information back to you as quickly and efficiently as possible so that you can incorporate this information into your overall maintenance plans.
Importance of Sample Turnaround Times
When determining the health of your oil analysis program, one of the key metrics to look at is sample turnaround times. This metric is made up of two key components: Transit Time to the lab and Lab Analysis time.
- Transit Time is the number of days from the date the sample was taken (registered) until the sample arrives at the lab. Transit Time can further be broken down into two categories:
- Time between sampling and shipment
- Time between shipment and arrival at the lab
- Lab Analysis Time is the total time of the results to be processed by the lab.
Managing Transit Time
This is where Transit Time becomes a critical part of the equation. If there’s delays in receiving critical military intelligence out in the field, operational planning and tactical execution can be seriously hampered. Simiarly, if there are delays from when a sample is taken and when it’s shipped compounded with another delay in time it takes to get to the lab, this can play havoc with the accuracy and relevancy of the analysis done. While the sample shipment-to-lab time is solely attributed to courier schedules, the time between sampling and shipment is one that you can control.
How to Monitor Transit time
In myLab under Summary Reports, you can monitor your Transit Time stats in the Program Health Report . This report outputs the total turnaround time and breaks out the Transit versus Lab Analysis time.
Alternatively, you can also use the myLab Turnaround Dashboard Graph (found here: Home>>Dashboard Graphs>>Program Health).
These charts output the total turnaround time and break out the Transit versus Lab Analysis time. If you start seeing your transit times creeping up, then an investigation needs to happen to find out what the issue is. Some common issues could be:
- Samples are sitting around for a while before being shipped – this could be due to the desire to consolidate sample shipments, SOPs improperly followed, or samples missed being shipped. Ideally, samples should be shipped the same day they’re taken/registered. If that’s not possible, one option is to separate out critical samples and have them shipped immediately and limit the timeframe for sample consolidation.
- Long shipping times for remote locations – special, remote pickup and rush shipment services are always more expensive and may limit how often samples are shipped. If shipping times are a concern, an option is to incorporate oil condition monitoring sensors on critical assets or components and using oil sampling for standard PM, troubleshooting, or routine follow up.
Example Process for Transit Times
The following is an example of a process to manage sample transit times.
- Create and print blank sample labels. Sample status is registered in myLab.
- Samples are sent from shop to warehouse.
- Warehouse techs have label scanners with access to myLab. They are responsible to scan the labels and mark sample down as shipped.
- This allows the oil analysis program leads to create program KPIs for delay between sampling and shipment.
Make sure you’re getting the information you need from your oil analysis samples with military precision. If you would like help developing a process to manage and monitor transit times or learn more about sample turn around, contact us today!