Briner Brings Experience to Advanced Composites

Name: Scott Briner

Age: 55

Job Title: Preventive Maintenance Coordinator

Company: Advanced Composites

Location: Sidney, Ohio

Length of Service: 5 years

Scott Briner began his career in machinery lubrication with the U.S. Army, setting up and leading an oil analysis program for a fleet of heavy-construction equipment, including bulldozers, graders, dump trucks, etc. He also was in charge of where oil samples were taken and was the leader over the program’s results, ensuring all equipment benefited from the program. Now as the preventive maintenance coordinator for Advanced Composites in Sidney, Ohio, Briner brings a combined 36 years of experience to his role. Through the years, he has seen significant changes and improvements to his company’s oil analysis and lubrication program.

Q: What types of training have you taken to reach your current position?

A: I have attended many courses related to maintenance and engineering during my career, including Noria’s Machinery Lubrication I training.

Q: What professional certifications have you attained?

A: I have an industrial engineering degree from the University of Hawaii and am certified as a Level I Machinery Lubrication Technician (MLT I) through the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML).

Q: Are you planning to obtain additional training or achieve higher certifications?

A: Yes, I want to obtain two more certifications: the Machinery Lubrication Engineer (MLE) certification and the Certified Maintenance & Reliability Professional (CMRP) certification. In my career, I believe these certifications will bring me to the next level of understanding and advancement in the lubrication field. I also am planning to contribute to Machinery Lubrication magazine, basing my articles on my 35-plus years of experience in preventive maintenance and engineering.

Q: What’s a normal work day like for you?

A: I work as the preventive maintenance coordinator, overseeing daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annually and annually scheduled preventive maintenance (PM) tasks with a team of two PM team members. The PM program is scheduled off an internet-based system that I manage, adjust and process daily. I also work with my team daily conducting PM tasks to keep my PM skills and knowledge of the PM tasks sharp. In addition, I am in charge of our preventive maintenance oil analysis and lubrication program.

Q: What is the amount and range of equipment that you help service through lubrication/oil analysis tasks?

A: Currently, 36 pieces of vital equipment are part of our oil analysis and lubrication program. These consist of plastic extrusion main gearboxes and injection-molding equipment. To be in our program, all the equipment must have more than 20 gallons of oil. The oil capacities range from 20 gallons to more than 120 gallons.

Q: On what lubrication-​related projects are you currently working?

A: I am currently conducting an improvement case study on two different areas within our oil analysis and lubrication program. These involve better oil storage and usage as well as how long to filter oils based on oil test results and particle counts.

Q: What have been some of the biggest project successes in which you’ve played a part?

A: One of the biggest successes has been reinventing Advanced Composites’ oil analysis and lubrication program, with noted successes in oil usage, contamination, filtering, analysis, record-keeping and carbon footprint within four years.

Q: How does your company view machinery lubrication in terms of importance and overall business strategy?

A: My company always fosters improvable change and has supported and worked with me on all the incredible changes and improvements to our oil analysis and lubrication program.

Q: What do you see as some of the more important trends taking place in the lubrication and oil analysis field?

A: I have seen more of an openness to meaningful training and an exchange of success stories during conferences worldwide as well as an emphasis on obtaining certifications.

Q: What has made your company decide to put more emphasis on machinery lubrication?

A: It has been my personal campaign to better our program. During this improvement, my upper management has seen firsthand the need for greater emphasis on machinery lubrication and noticed the advantages, cost savings and improvements to our company’s carbon footprint.