Visit the Kluber Lubrication GB web site

Expensive lubricant cuts maintenance costs

A Kluber Lubrication GB product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 10, 2007

Blue chip food processing company makes substantial maintenance savings from correct lubrication using what has always been perceived in industry to be an expensive lubricant.

12 months ago a Kluber received a call for help from a blue chip food processing company with what was thought to be the impossible task of reducing costs throughout the group without compromising efficiencies.

The agenda combined the need to reduce costs from a purchase view point and apply economies of volume across all group locations with the requirement for a partner with technical expertise to bring cost and application reductions to the group.

The rotary cooker oil was identified as a key initial item to review, and at GBP 96,00 per annum the cost of the current rotary cooker lubricant was considered too high.

The company also wanted to address its high spare parts costs - in particular the brass wear strips at GBP 100.00 each accounted for an annual cost of GBP 25,700.00.

With 12 cookers operating at an average of 75% duty this equated to a total spares spend on strips of GBP 230,000k and GBP 96,000 per annum on lubricants.

Kluber engineers identified key performance indicators for plan and evaluation.

The rotary cooker OEM recommended product - Kluberoil 4 UH1 460N - was put forward as the alternative to that in current use.

This allowed the discharge valves to be reset to allow a lower lubricant consumption without compromising the wear surfaces.

It was agreed that Kluber would monitor the effect of the oil film on wear strips over a 12 month period and report the results to Engineering teams and purchase departments.

After running for 12 months oil consumption was reduced to GBP 55,000; and only 57 wear strips needed replacement.

If the duty cycle is factored in the saving will be in the region of GBP 162,000 for all 12 cookers, resulting in direct savings of GBP 203,000 on the 2006 maintenance budget.

And all this was achieved by nothing more than correct lubrication using what has always been perceived in industry to be an expensive lubricant.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.

Not what you're looking for? Search the site.

Back to top Back to top

Contact Kluber Lubrication GB

Other Kluber Lubrication GB stories

Newsletter sign up

Request your free weekly copy of the Engineeringtalk email newsletter ...

Visit the Kluber Lubrication GB web site

Browse by category

All suppliers A - Z

A Pro-talk Publication

A Pro-talk publication