LUBRICATION STANDARDS MANUAL-THE NEED FOR DOCUMENTATION

Everyone remembers their first car. The feeling of freedom coupled with a light tinge of fear going down the road is an experience that is hard to forget. Equally hard to forget is when that first car requires maintenance or repairs. In my case, the car was a 1983 Jeep Wagoneer, and there was no shortage of repairs that had to be made.

One day my dad brought me a Chilton's manual for that particular vehicle. It was filled with how-to's, diagrams and troubleshooting guides. It made the jobs significantly easier to perform but also provided much-needed specifications on items such as torque, tolerances and other specs to make the vehicle operate better and more reliably. Chilton has shifted primarily to an online platform now, but I still have that physical manual.

The idea of having a manual serve to enhance understanding and performance is not a new concept, but it's one that isn't employed as much in the industrial space as it should be especially as it relates to lubrication. Most facilities may have operating manuals for a piece of equipment that have some instructions related to lubrication, but many do not go into the level of detail required to ensure the reliable operation of the equipment. Nor do many facilities have a set of standards that relate to the lubrication activities required to sustain the program. This is why having a lubrication standards manual is a key component of a lubrication program.

A standards manual should be a living document that outline seach aspect of the lubrication program and then provides guidance for how activities should be performed. The idea is that it will serve as a repository of information that can be called upon when needed and as a way to keep the programin a consistent state. With employee turnover or changing priorities, the standards manual becomes a time capsule of how work should be done and managed and even who does the work.