“In the 25 years I have been in the oil industry I have witnessed an astonishing and tremendous waste of resources and money.
This due to the incorrect selection and use of lubricants as a result of inadequate levels of knowledge in this highly specialised area. In a conversation I had recently with an “engineer” I was informed that the gear oil in the conveyor gearboxes on their production line is never changed as the gearbox is discarded after 10 years of use anyway. The manufacturer of these gearboxes expects a conservative lifespan of thirty years or more with an oil change specified once every three years. When one considers that each gearbox contains less than one litre of gear oil and the replacement of the oil takes less than 5 minutes, the cost of maintaining these gearboxes is totally insignificant when compared to the saving accomplished by extending their lifespan.
If anyone has ever watched the program “Swiss Railway Journeys” they will have noticed that most of the immaculately maintained trains in operation were built in the 1940’s and 1950’s and are still operating in perfect working condition today. These trains still transport thousands of tourists safely every year up steep alpine routes such as the Jungfraujoch, at 3571 metres high. This is proof that by investing in training, coupled with well planned and structured maintenance procedures which include the efficient use of the correct lubricants in the required applications, an exponential increase in service life and therefore profit, is very definitely the result.”