CLEVELAND, November 11, 2020 TestOil, the industry leader in lubricant analysis, explains the difference in common oil analysis maintenance strategies and why they recommend a predictive oil analysis program in most situations.
TestOil’s Senior Technical Advisor Evan Zabawski said, “At TestOil, we are aware of the different strategies and have always chosen to focus on the strategy that delivers the most benefit to our customers. However, it is quite common that people confuse oil analysis strategies or use the terms incorrectly.” The four oil analysis strategies include:
• Reactive maintenance: mitigating a failure after it has occurred; sometimes called “run to failure”
• Preventive maintenance: performing maintenance on a scheduled basis
• Predictive maintenance: performing maintenance based on trending oil analysis data that can predict the condition of the machinery far enough in advance to avoid a failure (also called “condition-based monitoring”)
• Proactive maintenance: using root cause analysis to investigate a failure after it has occurred and taking subsequent steps to prevent a similar failure in the future
TestOil’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing Mike Barrett said, “At TestOil, we are big proponents of predictive maintenance. There are proven benefits over the other three strategies. For example, reactive is a very stressful way to mange. You have no idea what is going to break and when. So you end up spending a lot of time putting out fires and waiting for things to break. When you perform preventive maintenance, the machinery has to actually be shut down. With predictive, nothing needs to be done on the machine unless the oil analysis finds a potential problem.”
There are many benefits to predictive oil analysis, including more uptime, less stress and—most important—significant cost-savings; anywhere from 12%-20%.
TestOil's TrustPLUS pledge was created to clearly convey the company’s predictive oil analysis advantages, which include:
• Same day turnaround on oil analysis
• Dynamic Support: Expertise on staff to help customers assess their maintenance situations, identify problems and, in some cases, propose solutions
• No Charge Ferrography: Automatically performed on abnormal machine conditions, at no charge
• Data Double Checking: TestOil's CLS analysts review all test results and if something doesn't look right, they retest it
“While predictive maintenance is extremely valuable, it is not necessary for all equipment,” Barrett explained. “Tools such as a criticality assessment will identify which machinery can benefit the most from predictive maintenance. If less critical equipment fails and there are no production or safety related ramifications there is less need for predictive maintenance.”
The TestOil PRO menu of professional field services helps reliability professionals maintain and power up their lubrication analysis programs. Services include:
• Kickstart PRO: Lube Program Creation, Revamp, and Training
• Work Order PRO: Work Order Writing
• Sampling PRO: Oil Sample Collection Service
• Consulting PRO: Onsite Program Audits
• Sampling PRO+: Sample Collection and Work Order Writing
To learn more about predictive maintenance and start the conversion with TestOil about its many benefits visit: https://bit.ly/2IlOuz5
With more than 30 years of experience in the oil analysis industry, TestOil focuses exclusively on assisting industrial facilities with reducing maintenance costs and avoiding unexpected downtime through oil analysis program implementation. As industry experts in diagnosing oil-related issues in equipment such as turbines, hydraulics, gearboxes, pumps, compressors and diesel generators, TestOil provides customers with a guarantee of same-day turnaround on all routine testing. With in-house, certified training professionals, TestOil offers lubrication and oil analysis training, private onsite training, certification training and exams, and educational webinars. For more information on partnering with TestOil on oil analysis programs or training opportunities visit www.testoil.com. Contact: 216-251-2510; sales@testoil.com
