BEST PRACTICES FOR LUBRICATION
CONTRIBUTING RE.ENGINEER
Noria Corporation (www.noria.com)
CHALLENGE
Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) operates seven power plants throughout Oklahoma and for plants like Muskogee, the know-how and expertise with lubrication was lacking. While lubrication was not a strong focus at the Muskogee plant, it became a core strength with the integration of Noria's Lubrication Program Development.
Specific Opportunities:
Lack of lubrication standards
Failure to implement proper lubrication procedures
Lack of specialized lubrication maintenance training
SOLUTION
Noria implemented their Lubrication Program Development system and helped OG&E transform the plant's lubrication procedures on all critical assets. Below are a few of the solutions that they executed:
Noria's engineering design for machine optimum reference state (ORS)
Lubricant storage room design and consolidation
Noria's on-site private training with upper management and front-line (technicians) operators
Customized, hands-on new equipment implementation training
Coaching from Noria experts on goal-setting, KPIs, tracking, monitoring and other analytics
Company culture change at plant
RESULT
Achieved ROI sooner than expected and with best practices for lubrication in place, fewer unplanned outages are occurring at Muskogee. Noria has also helped OG&E be smarter about purchasing oil for lubrication. Previously, Muskogee used 23 different types of oil. That number was reduced to 16 after transitioning to best practices. As a result, OG&E has negotiating power with oil providers because fewer oil types are needed at the plant, and they know exact specifications to request. Here are more of their results:
Major cultural shit to better performing people and machines
Less downtime
More efficient production
Properly trained maintenance staff
Decrease in operational and repair cost
Significant increase in plant efficiency and profitability
IMPACT
In one example, technicians were able to analyze and stop a piece of equipment from breaking down that would have cost them $350,000. This one instance more than covered the program cost.
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