April 2025

Like many things in life, when it comes to lubricant temperature, there's a need for control and moderation. In other words, you can expect problems if you have too little or too much. Find the temperature sweet spot and the performance and service life of your lubricant can be extended manyfold.

How effective is your oil analysis program? Many oil analysis programs have limited potential due to a lack of vision. This may be the result of insufficient training or not adequately understanding the capabilities of oil analysis.

Lubricants age and alter chemically by a process called oxidation. In fact, oxidation is the primary way a lubricant degrades over time from normal service. It typically results in impaired chemical and physical properties of the base oil and additives. Understanding why a lubricant oxidizes is essential to prevent, delay and monitor the process.

People tend to treat lubrication-related items as disposable. This is a big mistake. Our lubricants are assets, just like our equipment and tools, and we should treat them as such. This means that by implementing proper inventory control, we never have to ask “What’s in the box?”

The lubrication process is vital across all industrial sectors in order to meet the different challenges and requirements unique to each industry. From high-pressure environments to heavy workload conditions, lubrication with high-quality lubricants plays a highly important role in ensuring the reliability and efficiency of machines and providing longer lifespans.

Today, system operators are confronted with the fact that the production of the base oils used is changing or has already been changed. This change has contributed to increased varnish formation in the oils due to changes in solubility. However, oil care can reduce varnish formation.

As seasoned workers retire and younger generations pursue diverse career paths, maintenance and reliability teams in these organizations are increasingly strained, struggling to service equipment on time and keep operations running smoothly. To bridge this gap, organizations must consider technology-driven solutions that automate routine tasks and provide critical insights to support leaner teams.

Over time, performing an oil analysis will enhance a company's productivity and competitiveness while increasing profits. Unfortunately, many companies are not seeing the full benefits because they do not fully understand the importance of the first step in oil analysis—collecting a representative and reliable oil sample.