▶ Video Feature By Rafe Britton Back in April I published a video arguing that the lubricants industry was facing the most significant supply chain disruption of the modern era, and that readers had roughly 60 days to act. It was a big claim, and it drew a...
Crude oil prices have fluctuated significantly over the past 12 months, with a recent sharp increase in 2026 due to the crisis in the Middle East, while global lubricating oil prices remain relatively stable and do not directly track crude oil volatility. An analysis...
Moving Beyond Detection to Deliver Reliability For maintenance managers and reliability professionals, identifying a problem is only the beginning. The real objective is preventing it from happening again. In demanding industries with processing and manufacturing...
Several years ago, I published an article titled, “How to Get Started with Onsite Oil Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide”. In that article, I outline 7 steps to developing a successful onsite program: Developing an equipment criticality profile Determining sampling...
Oils are composed of base oils and additives. Typically, additives are sacrificial; they deplete first before the base oil is affected. As such, by trending their quantities over time, we can gain insight into a few of the conditions to which the oil is subjected. By...
Oil analysis is widely recognized as one of the most potent tools in precision lubrication and reliability engineering. Yet, despite decades of industry experience, many organizations unknowingly undermine their effectiveness before the first sample is even taken. A...
In industrial and manufacturing facilities, lubrication and condition-monitoring programs focus on equipment that runs every day, such as compressors, gearboxes, pumps, turbines, and hydraulic systems that keep production moving. These critical assets are often...
Sometimes we can spend hours poring over technical data sheets, comparing oil performances, and finally selecting the “right” oil which aligns with the needs of our equipment. Then, within 2 months, the oil degrades, our machines shut down, and we have a bunch of...
It is very likely that you have encountered the RPVOT (Rotating Pressure Vessel Oxidation Test), a laboratory test developed in the 1960s and later standardized by ASTM D2272. It measures the antioxidant stability of lubricating oils by accelerating oxidation in a...
When we walk into a pharmacy, there are thousands of items. Some of them do the same job but have different names and price points, while others are specialty items designed to solve a particular problem at a slightly elevated price point. Some of these may not be...
