By Jeff Walkup, Vice President – Sales & Marketing
Recently, I was speaking with an industry colleague about the many ways an oil analysis and reliability company could assist him with his maintenance program. As I listened to him, I couldn’t help but take notice of his frustration with his lack of ability to position the value of a quality maintenance program in front of his Director of Maintenance & Reliability. While he could outline the “how’s” around a successful oil analysis program, he struggled with the “why’s”. Many of us that work in this field will often hear the same endless litany of questions consisting of “What exactly is the added value of oil analysis in maintenance? Show me my ROI and share holder value. Convince me of its need and why should I trust you?”
If we are honest, most end users, view oil analysis as a necessary evil, a grudge purchase similar to purchasing flood or fire insurance, never wanting it until it’s needed, or a claim is filed. I believe we all would agree that maintenance is critically important to any operation, and oil analysis is a big part of it even if it’s vastly misunderstood.
Focus on the Abnormal
Industry statistics suggest that in a “typical oil analysis program, roughly 80 percent of sample results are normal, 15 percent are abnormal, and 5 percent are critical” ~STLE, Jan/Feb 2014.
If most oil sample results are normal, then why would you need to do it? The reason why you should have a routine oil analysis program is because at some point, a result that has been trending as normal, could quickly turn abnormal or critical. And it’s best to monitor for those changes in oil condition proactively, rather than waiting for a critical result with a corresponding major equipment failure.
The largest return on your investment is monitoring for those 15% of test results that give an abnormal result. Monitoring for abnormal results isn’t enough – it also requires action. Abnormal results often require additional investigation – like triggered advanced testing and equipment inspections – to pinpoint the issues and get them corrected before you end up with a critical result or machinery failure.
Importance of Time
Additionally, to realize a strong ROI for oil analysis, your reliability and maintenance departments need to act in a timely manner. This is an area I cannot emphasize enough – time is your enemy and can be a killer of all things. First, they need to ensure samples are shipped quickly to the lab – that’s sample turn around time. Second, they need to ensure the appropriate maintenance activities, based on oil analysis data, trends, and recommendations, are carried out in a timely manner – analysis response time.
From a sample turnaround perspective, if there are delays from when a sample is taken and when it’s shipped, compounded with courier delays in the time it takes to get to the lab, this can play havoc with the accuracy and relevancy of the analysis done. From the maintenance response perspective, if results are not taken seriously or actioned upon in a timely manner, abnormal results can escalate to critical catastrophic failures in short order.
Bottom Line
A successful oil analysis program requires conscious, consistent effort.
Just like with anything in life, what you put into it is what you will get out of it. At bare minimum, if you focus on the abnormal and monitor sample turnaround and response time, you can realize many benefits, as mentioned below.
Benefits of a Successful Oil Analysis Program
If you’re seeing success and still trying to convince your leadership that oil analysis is an essential part of your maintenance and reliability program, you can let them know that a solid, well managed oil analysis program can:
- Support optimization and extension of drain intervals
- Support service/ warranty claims so that you are not at the mercy of your OEM
- Minimize unscheduled downtime so you can keep your assets operational availability at the highest levels
- Help to extend equipment life and not at arbitrary (PCR) Planned Component Replacement intervals
- Help improve equipment reliability
- Assist in reducing maintenance costs (e.g. fewer major repairs = reduced replacement parts requirement)
There are a plethora of other things I could say, but if you are reading this and it perks your curiosity, let me or one of the many professional staff at Fluid Life speak to you from the heart on ways we can help you get on track, improve ROI, convince your stake holders and make the remainder of 2022 and beyond be your best years.