Many technologies are available to improve bearing lubrication and ensure that the right amount and type of lubrication is applied at the right time. While manual lubrication is still commonplace – and unlikely ever to be fully replaced by automated processes – it is frequently applied in an arbitrary way, often dictated by ad hoc maintenance scheduling or even guided by lubricant availability.

Ineffective and incorrect lubrication increases the incidence of unplanned shutdowns and will eat into maintenance budgets as spares and lubricant consumption soars. It is important to note here that over-lubrication is as damaging as under-lubrication, causing problems such as higher running temperatures and seal damage, and leading ultimately to bearing failure. Operator safety, too, may be compromised by unnecessarily frequent manual lubrication, particularly if it has to be carried out on working machinery or where leaking seals can cause a trip hazard.

In the food industry, for example, it is common practice to re-lubricate bearings after each wash-down. During this process, excess grease is discharged past the bearing seals, which can compromise both food safety and asset reliability. And at the next wash-down cycle, grease is passed into the plant’s waste water system.

Getting organised

Avoiding waste, contamination and potential risks to plant and personnel are the aims of good lubrication management. Make a start by assessing your production process to weigh up the costs and potential risks against the opportunities and benefits of a planned lubrication management programme. This can be conducted in-house or by using the services of an expert in rotating equipment such as SKF, who can advise on strategies and appropriate technologies.

For example, you may wish to choose bearings that are 'greased for life' and which require no re-lubrication, and opt for high-efficiency seals that keep lubricants in and contaminants out. It may be appropriate to consider using an automated or centralised lubrication system – and supporting the lubrication strategy by deploying a condition monitoring system that will detect the effects of poor lubrication before it results in any damage to critical production assets.

Centralised systems work on the ‘little and often’ principle, delivering measured amounts of lubricant to single points or, via dual-line systems such as SKF’s DuoFlex or Lincoln’s Helios lubricant metering pumps, to hundreds of lubrication points over long distances. Controllers, such as SKF’s LMC 301, can operate three separate lubricant pumps, controlling up to three zones, and is appropriate for systems with lubrication points that require either different lubrication intervals or varying types of grease.

Returning to our food industry example, increasingly tight regulations to ensure food safety are demanding different ways of managing lubrication, and today a lubrication management review will form an essential part of the food producer's HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) certification process. Potential negative impacts of poor lubrication practice on HACCP have seen the industry adopt different approaches to managing lubrication – using re-lubrication-free bearings, effective sealing arrangements and centralised, automated lubrication systems as outlined above – in order to avoid disastrous product recalls.

SKF can help to review and optimise existing routines to determine appropriate lubricants, how to apply the right amount – using the right tools – and set up appropriate training for maintenance technicians and operators. And while manual lubrication is likely to remain part of most re-lubrication strategies, it pays to ensure that everybody – especially the person carrying out manual lubrication – is fully conversant with this most basic and critical task.