BEST PRACTICES FOR LUBRICATION

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CONTRIBUTING RE.ENGINEER

Noria Corporation (www.noria.com)

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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.