Product category:
Lubricants
News Release from: Castrol UK | Subject: Cutting coolants
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 08 March 2005
"The knowledge" can reduce processing
costs
Chris Poole of Castrol Industrial suggests that a better understanding of coolant usage could save your company time, money and a lot of aggravation - but first you need "the knowledge".
Coolant is a commodity product, and a pretty low priority one at that You probably don't know how much you're using, or how much you spend on it, so you don't know how much it's costing you either
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 15 May 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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And you've got more important things to do than find out.
If that sounds like you, then this article is required reading because it is intended to increase your knowledge of coolant use to a level that will enable you to reduce its total cost.
Here's your first piece of knowledge.
Depending who you speak to, the total costs of coolant to a process can vary between 3% and a whooping 12%.
That's a big difference and it isn't oil company spin.
Further reading
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The difference between the lower and higher figures can be attributed to any number of factors.
You could be using the wrong type of coolant for the job.
You may not be maintaining it correctly (if at all).
You could be using too many lubricants.
You could be paying excessively for disposal costs etc.
And this is why knowledge is so important.
So here's your second piece of knowledge.
On average manufacturing companies use 400 litres of coolant for every cubic metre of swarf produced.
The source of this piece of knowledge is no less an authority than the UK Government, which compiled data through its "Envirowise" agency to model the average amount of coolant used in processes throughout British industry.
Envirowise found that the average coolant to swarf ratio was approximately 400 litres for every cubic metre of swarf produced.
This knowledge provides a credible, independent framework to work within, and a reference point to help measure the difference between good practice and bad practice.
To increase our knowledge further, it is necessary to know the volume/weight of swarf generated by a given process and the amount of coolant used to generate it.
So at Castrol we decided to undertake our own study with the co-operation of a number of customers, using similar parameters to the "Envirowise" study.
The results were interesting and provide a useful comparison with the Government figures.
Company A uses a heavy-duty, chlorine-free coolant to machine both steel and aluminium.
Annually it uses 2720 litres of concentrate to produce 105 tonnes of steel swarf, and 1088 litres to produce 12.5 tonnes of aluminium swarf.
Company B produces a total of 4740 tonnes of ferrous swarf annually.
Of this, 1000 tonnes is produced from dry cutting, 1500 tonnes using a neat oil and 2240 tonnes using 63,000 litres of a coolant.
When these figures are converted to cubic metres, Company A uses 241 litres to produce each cubic metre of aluminium swarf and 206 litres to produce each cubic metre of steel swarf, and Company B uses 225 litres to produce each cubic metre ferrous swarf.
Which brings us to your next piece of knowledge.
The Envirowise average of 400 litres per cubic metre can be improved on to give savings of up to 50% in coolant consumption.
To some this may not appear to be a huge saving.
But if you are the company using 400 litres (or more) to generate each cubic metre of swarf, and your competitors are using 200 litres (or less) to achieve the same, they have an edge that can make them more competitive or more profitable - or both.
So your next piece of knowledge is in fact self-knowledge, and for this you need to know the answers to the following questions: What "type" (not brand) of coolant am I using? Is it suitable for all my machining operations? How often do we test its condition? How often do we change it? Why do we change it? Do we need to change it? What containers is it delivered in? Do we use one coolant or one per operation? And why? How do we dispose of it? What is the cost of disposal? What procedure, if any, do we use to clean a machine?.
If you can't answer them all don't worry.
As mentioned earlier, for most manufacturing companies, coolants are not a priority.
And so to your final piece of knowledge.
As long as you and your processes are a priority for your coolant supplier you can enjoy the savings.
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