A leading condiment manufacturer that runs multiple bottling lines and pack lines was not utilizing a total lubrication program for its plant equipment. The plant contained the filling, capping, palletizing and conveying equipment on the packaging side and mixing and blending equipment on the processing side. Over the years, multiple vendors, products and locations for lubrication were used, which led to a variety of issues, including:
- Mixing of food-grade H1 and non-H1 products, resulting in issues from auditors regarding storage and location of different lubricants
- Over-lubrication and product waste
- Using multiple lubricants for the same application
- Concern that the plant could be shut down or a product recall could occur if lubricants are misapplied or mixed
To consolidate lubricants, the KlüberEfficiencySupport (KES) program was presented to the head of maintenance, production line leads and reliability engineering staff at the plant. Developed to increase production line efficiency and to protect equipment assets, KES involved close collaboration. In this case, KES covers the use of H1-registered food-grade lubricants in all areas, as well as labels for lubrication points and oil analysis for equipment. Following a plant walkthrough, the current state of the facility and areas for improvements were noted, with immediate action taken for the following equipment:
- Homogenizer, which is subject to temperature issues: the Main gearbox was converted to Klüberoil 4 UH1 220 N and an oil analysis program was started. Other gearboxes in the facility will be converted to Klüberoil 4 UH1 220 N as current lubricants are depleted.
- Bottle capper, which is subject to significant moisture exposure: Klübersynth UH1 14-151 is now being used in the capper and an optimization project was implemented to extend the current daily relube interval.
- Bottle transport conveyor guide bearings: Klübermatic Flex units filled with Allplex FMG 2 US grease will be installed in intervals over nine months.
Standardizing food-grade NSF H1 synthetic products provided several benefits, including:
- Improving implementation flexibility as needs changed in the plant
- Optimizing lubricant usage to reduce waste
- Extending lubrication intervals to reduce maintenance and to boost uptime
- Ensuring compliance with H1 product registration
- Reducing the number of vendors to save time and cost of ordering
- Enhancing safety by reducing instances of climbing to access lubrication points
To discover more benefits, learn more about plantwide use of NSF H1 lubricants.
