Lubrication is no longer just a basic maintenance task. More organizations now see lubrication as a critical player in reducing machinery downtime, extending asset life, and cutting operational costs. However, many of these companies struggle to make the necessary changes and improvements to their lubrication practices. And more find it even harder to foster long-lasting and effective lubrication management processes.
In this post, we’ll explore the concept of lubrication culture, why it matters, and, most importantly, how you can build and sustain one within your organization. Use this to ensure that your lubrication practices provide a strong foundation for your maintenance strategy, boosting reliability, driving efficiency, and ultimately saving you money.
What Lubrication Culture Means
First, what is lubrication culture, and why is it important? Lubrication culture is the general mindset, practices, and values that an organization has toward lubrication management and maintenance. A robust lubrication culture means that consistent, proactive, and well-informed lubrication practices are in place to improve equipment reliability, extend machinery life, and prevent costly downtime.
A lubrication culture is where proper lubrication practices become second nature for technicians, managers, and all employees. Here, all tasks are performed properly with little effort because it is already ingrained into every individual in the organization.
Without creating this culture, any lubrication process or strategy will have limited effectiveness. If a process is not ingrained into the normal business-as-usual process, employees will exert too much effort to follow it. Eventually, employees will end up dismissing the said process and reverting to “the old way of doing things”.
Strategies for Building and Sustaining a Lubrication Culture
A strong lubrication culture is not built overnight, and sustaining it requires significant effort, at least initially. The following strategies for building and sustaining a lubrication culture need time and commitment but will eventually lead to success:
Process & Culture Evaluation
Evaluating your organization’s current lubrication processes and culture is critical for laying the foundation for a strong lubrication culture. Through this strategy, you gain a clear understanding of where your lubrication program stands and what changes need to be made. This strategy involves:
Assessing current practices - Determine if current procedures are being performed and documented, technicians are properly trained, and tools and resources are available and adequate.
Analyzing current culture - Conduct surveys and interviews to understand how employees view lubrication, what roles and responsibilities are being neglected or negatively perceived, and assess how employees communicate and collaborate on lubrication processes.
Measuring lubrication impact - Track lubrication-related machinery downtime and failures, examine lubrication-related costs, including spare parts, technician labor, and downtime costs, and measure machinery efficiency and wear due to improper lubrication.
Benchmarking against standards - Compare current processes against industry standards such as ISO (International Organization for Standardization), ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), etc., and reach out to similar companies to gauge how your lubrication practices stack up against their practices and identify new ways to elevate them.
Building actionable insights - Identify gaps between current practices and optimal lubrication, set clear and measurable goals to improve practices to bridge these gaps, and create a detailed plan to accomplish these goals.
Management Buy-In and Support
A robust lubrication culture depends on leadership that prioritizes lubrication and sees it as an essential component for business success. You can leverage management buy-in and support to build and sustain lubrication culture by:
Aligning lubrication with business goals - Consider lubrication as an essential part of the overall business strategy, communicate to all employees that lubrication protects investments and ensures continuous operations, and link lubrication with business KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to reinforce the idea that lubrication is a critical component of long-term profitability.
Allocating budget and resources - Invest in tools and technology like Redlist to improve lubrication efficiency while minimizing costs. Fund training programs that equip the workforce with the knowledge and skills to perform lubrication tasks correctly.
Establishing roles and responsibilities - Clearly define who is responsible for various lubrication-related tasks, ensure that lubrication tasks are well-documented in job descriptions, SOPs, and daily workflows, and set clear expectations for lubrication standards and consistently reinforce their importance.
Recognizing and incentivizing excellence - Recognize and reward individuals or teams who excel in lubrication practices and create incentive programs tied to lubrication performance, encouraging proactive behavior.
Regular Training Programs
An organization’s lubrication culture is only as effective as its training programs. Consistent and effective training programs ensure that all personnel, from technicians to management, have the knowledge and skills necessary to execute lubrication tasks properly. Regular training programs embed and maintain a strong lubrication culture by:
Improving knowledge and skills - Conduct training to provide or refresh fundamental knowledge and skills on correct lubrication practices, empower workers with advanced techniques or modern technologies, and cross-train employees from various departments to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration.
Ensuring consistency - Train all employees on standardized lubrication procedures, reinforce the correct procedures, and clarify current policies to ensure that everyone follows the same guidelines and applies the same high standards regardless of experience levels.
Promoting proactivity and engagement - Shift the mindset of employees through training by teaching them to be accountable and take their responsibilities seriously, to be proactive in monitoring machine conditions and anticipating lubrication needs, and to strive for continuous improvement and optimization of lubrication processes.
Training the use of technology - Use modern technological tools and devices such as management software like Redlist, which improve training efficiency, provide hands-on experience in a practical and risk-free setting, and allow employees to learn at their own pace through accessible training materials, videos, and guides.
Tracking progress - Offer training programs that provide certifications that can encourage employees to put their knowledge to good use, ultimately benefitting the lubrication program, conduct post-training evaluations to measure the training effectiveness, and gather feedback to identify areas for improvements.
Culture of Continuous Improvement
Lubrication practices must evolve along with technological advancements, best practices revisions, and changing business needs. Organizations must foster a culture of continuous improvement within their lubrication practices to ensure that lubrication culture stays relevant and ahead of potential challenges. The following are the ways fostering a culture of continuous improvement can lead to a strong lubrication culture:
Encouraging ongoing learning - Encourage employees to look for ways to improve lubrication intervals, techniques, and technologies to prevent breakdowns before they happen, thus preventing costly issues down the road.
Relying on data - Gather and analyze lubrication data to identify trends and make informed decisions on how to refine lubrication practices. Continuously review KPIs to assess the impact of their lubrication efforts and identify areas for further improvement.
Using feedback loops - Set open channels of communication to encourage employees to share feedback on lubrication practices, regularly review the feedback, and execute the necessary actions to refine current processes.
Leveraging technology - Adopt advanced tools like Redlist that not only streamline and enhance lubrication practices but also provide continuous data tracking and collection for accurate and real-time insights for improvement.
Keeping updated - Sustain long-term lubrication success by including continuous lubrication improvements as part of your company’s SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), ensuring that lubrication practices remain effective, even as your industry’s landscape changes.
How Redlist Supports Lubrication Culture
Redlist Lubrication Management is the ultimate software solution for building and sustaining a strong lubrication culture. Here’s how:
1. Facilitating Training
Redlist provides a centralized platform where employees can access lubrication knowledge, best practices, and standard procedures easily. Redlist also allows you to create customized training plans and integrate training with your employees' day-to-day workflows, ensuring that proper lubrication techniques are ingrained in their daily tasks.
2. Lubrication Visibility
Redlist provides a transparent view into lubrication task assignments, scheduling, reporting, and performance. Thus, managers can ensure lubrication activities are carried out consistently, correctly, and on time. They can also more easily identify areas for improvement through reports and real-time feedback.
3. Promoting Proactive Maintenance
Redlist comes with automated scheduling and mobile accessibility features that reduce human errors and increase the efficiency of lubrication processes. In addition, Redlist’s powerful data analytics is valuable in predictive maintenance, helping teams anticipate issues before they become problems. All these features help managers shift from reactive to proactive maintenance.
4. Enhancing Collaboration and Communication
Redlist’s platform connects different users so that they can align their goals and priorities and work together to achieve them. Teams can also set up alerts and notifications for missed or upcoming lubrication tasks, further reinforcing the importance of staying on top of lubrication maintenance.
You can now start building and improving your lubrication culture with Redlist. Consult with our lubrication experts for free today!
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