Condition monitoring and Lubrication Services
At Lowes Petroleum, we have experienced Lubrication Engineers that offer lubrication condition monitoring services to ensure your plant or equipment is optimised to its fullest whilst maintaining safe and effective operation. Our Lubricant engineers will work with you to understand your equipment particular lubricants needs and recommend a program to meet your specific goals and objectives.The program is designed to help you maximise the benefits of our products and technical services by providing a customised program for planning and implementing a proactive approach to your equipment lubrication and maintenance.
You can track the performance and results of our products and services, helping you quantify the benefits to your business, which could include:
- Extended equipment overhaul
- Continuous improvement in your lubrication program
- Less unscheduled equipment downtime
- Less energy consumption
- Fewer replacement parts
- Reduced purchasing costs
- Less lubricant consumption and waste
- More effective maintenance control
- Safe and effective operation processes
Total Cost of Lubrication Studies
Our Engineers can audit your current equipment lubrication regime to best practice standards and ascertain any areas with potential for improvement, in turn, creating savings and adding profit to your bottom line. For example:
- Ensure the right lubricant for the application
- Calculate correct lubrication and drain intervals to align with maintenance schedules
- Ascertain potential for utilisation of higher quality products to increase lubrication and maintenance intervals and reduce plant down time.
Oil Storage & Handling Audits
Lowes Petroleum conduct oil storage and handling audits to our customers to ensure the highest standards of oil storage and handling are being implemented and maintained. This will ensure compliance with all OH&S requirements and identify any equipment requirements.
Lubricant Rationalisation
Lowes Petroleum can conduct comprehensive lubrication surveys of your plant and equipment to ensure that every piece of equipment is being lubricated with the correct lubricant, at the right frequency. On completion of the audit, our engineers will be able to recommend any potential for rationalising your current lubricant portfolio and thereby decreasing your;
- Lubricant stock held at site, therefore reducing space requirements, EPA and OH&S risk and capital tied up.
- Potential for cross contamination with incorrect products
- Ancillary dispensing equipment
- Ordering and invoicing cost.
- Risk of zero stock product.
Cleanliness & Contamination Audits
Lowes Petroleum can conduct a comprehensive audit of your plant and equipment and lubricant dispensing practices to ensure that the lifeblood of your equipment, the lubricant, is delivered into your equipment, and maintained throughout its service life, at an acceptable level of cleanliness. This may include, but is not limited to;
- Breather inspections
- Fill point inspections
- Lubricant dispensing auditing
- Cross contamination risk
- Filtration auditing
Technical Lubricant Training
Lowes Petroleum can arrange training for your maintenance staff at your site, or off site for larger groups. Our trained and qualified staff can provide training in any of the following areas;
- Fundamentals of Lubrication
- Lubrication Best Practice
- Used Oil Analysis Basics and Interpretation
- Lubrication Housekeeping for better productivity
Condition Monitoring / Reliability Engineering
Our technical staff can provide complete lubrication condition monitoring advice and services to any size business, whether it is an integral part of your current Reliability team in a major organisation or a complete reliability solution for small business. Lowes Petroleum condition monitoring program can offer:
Used Oil Analysis Program
We firmly believe that lubrication is more than just the supply of lubricants as commodity products. We utilise our suppliers oil analysis programs, to ensure reliable results that help guide maintenance professionals to the best decisions for their operators.
A successful oil analysis program can:
- Ensure equipment reliability
- Reduce maintenance costs
- Lower the total lifetime cost of equipment ownership
Oil Storage & Handling Audits
We conduct oil storage and handling audits to our customers to ensure the highest standards of oil storage and handling are being implemented and maintained. This will ensure compliance with all OH&S requirements and identify any equipment requirements.
Sample Point installation
The success of any used oil analysis programme is fundamentally governed by the quality of oil samples that are taken from the equipment. One of the most important factors to sample quality is the repeatability and accuracy of the sampling regime. An ideal solution to ensure that representative samples are taken in a consistently accurate manner is to correctly install fixed sample points.
- To ensure a best practice, effective oil sampling programme, there are numerous practices that should be adhered to;
- Samples should be an accurate, representative sample of the lubricant in the compartment
- Samples should be taken in the same, correct and safe manner, from the same position in the compartment.
- No contaminant should be introduced into the compartment, or the sample, during sampling.
- Ideally, the sample should be taken whilst the equipment is operating to ensure an agitated sample is taken.
A correctly installed sample point will ensure that;
- The sample is taken from the same, correct location, every time.
- The risk of sample contamination is minimised
- Introduction of foreign contaminant into the compartment is minimised
- Time to take the sample is significantly reduced
- Samples can be taken from a safe, remote location whilst the equipment is running.
Typical Configurations
To ensure your used oil analysis programme is as effective as possible, Lowes Petroleum can assist you with advice on location, design and fitment of fixed sampling points as well as follow up service and parts to ensure the ongoing accuracy of your sampling regime.
Sample Collection and Reporting
Lowes Petroleum can provide sample collection services from your equipment on your site. Our industry qualified staff will work with you to address any concerns you have and to ensure that samples are taken to the highest standard possible in your application. We will work with you to establish sampling frequencies that fit in with your maintenance schedule and ensure that samples are taken to meet your quality and safety expectations, on time, at the right time. Lowes Petroleum can have your samples tested via the Mobil Signum Laboratory, with reports sent directly to your staff, or alternatively, you can utilise your own laboratory services and Lowes Petroleum can interpret your results. Our lubrication engineers can provide value added services from simple used oil analysis interpretation to individual sample commentary to comprehensive machinery condition reporting. Reports are provided in easily understandable formats and can be distributed to any key stakeholders.
Thermography
One of the main benefits of infrared thermography is that it allows users to quickly locate and monitor, in real time, maintenance and equipment issues. This technology works alone in many applications, i.e., detecting problems that cannot be detected with any other means. This information can be particularly important where equipment may show no visible signs of distress until moments prior to failure. Modern thermographic equipment can allow effective scanning and problem detection in very complex applications. Infrared thermography and testing is non-intrusive and can usually be performed safely whilst your equipment is still in operation.
In modern condition monitoring strategies, infrared thermography has become an integral component of comprehensive reliability programmes. Lowes Petroleum can provide infrared thermography expertise as a stand-alone service or as part of a complete condition monitoring package aligned with our other lubrication services. Our industry qualified staff will work with you to achieve your desired outcomes at any stage, from implementation to aligning with your existing programme.
On-site Inspections
Lowes Petroleum can also provide one off, ad hoc engineering services across a wide range of industries and applications. We can work with your maintenance staff as an integral part of a project or shutdown team, assist regular maintenance staff or provide stand-alone services.
- Ball/SAG/Grinding Mill Inspections
- Dragline and Shovel Inspections
- Open Gear Inspections
- Hydraulic System Inspections
- RCA and Tear Down Inspection
Delivery Services
Delivery Service – Lowes Petroleum has a fleet of company owned vehicles that offer next day delivery in most areas throughout Sydney and Brisbane Metropolitan areas. Please Contact Lowes Petroleum for further information.
Pump-out Service – Lowes Petroleum has the ability to pump any product into customer bulk tanks. Minimum quantities and lead times apply. Please Contact Lowes Petroleum for further information.
Drum & IBC disposal – Lowes Petroleum can assist with the disposal of empty 208 litre drums and 1000 litre IBC’s. These empty drums and IBC’s are collected from our Penrith depot for reconditioning. Please Contact Lowes Petroleum for further information.
