Testimonials
Wirelife® Monolec® Penetrating Lubricant significantly improved Macuch Steel's maintenance efficiency and reduced downtime.
key takeaways
Challenge
The maintenance manager faced 360 hours of annual downtime due to shear line chain issues, despite using five 20-oz cans of WD-40® weekly, and sought a solution from LE’s lubrication consultant to eliminate this problem.
LE solution
Mark Jones suggested using LE’s Wirelife® Monolec® Penetrating Lubricant (2001) for shear lines and provided the maintenance manager with a presentation on creating a World Class Lubrication Reliability Program.
Results
Switching to Wirelife Monolec Penetrating Lubricant eliminated daily maintenance calls, improved chain performance, and reduced re-lubrication frequency to every two months, saving at least 90 hours of downtime annually.
Customer Profile
Founded in 1948 in Augusta, Ga., Macuch Steel Products, Inc. is committed to providing a quality product at a competitive price using its diverse construction knowledge. Macuch assists customers in project requirements from design-build engineering to complex retrofitting.
Application
Macuch uses shear line chains to move rebar through production.
Challenge
The maintenance manager responded to three or more maintenance calls a day to the shear lines. The chains were very noisy. They continually kinked, ran dry and jumped the sprocket, despite the crew spraying the sprockets and chains with five 20-oz cans of WD-40® per week. These maintenance calls resulted in an average downtime of 30 to 60 minutes apiece. Conservatively, this totaled an average of 7.5 hours per week, 30 hours per month, or 360 hours per year of maintenance downtime.
The maintenance manager wanted to eliminate this downtime and the persistent calls to fix the shear line chains. He asked Mark D. Jones, one of LE’s MLT-1 certified machinery lubrication consultants, if LE had a product that would solve his problem.
LE Solution
Mark Jones recommended LE’s Wirelife® Monolec® Penetrating Lubricant (2001) for the shear lines. He also gave the maintenance manager the LE presentation on developing a World Class Lubrication Reliability Program (WCLRP).
Results
The maintenance crew sprayed on Wirelife Monolec Penetrating Lubricant using the same technique as they used with the previous lubricant. During the first couple of weeks, they closely watched the chains. They noticed there was no more noise, and the chains ran more efficiently. The chains no longer kinked or jumped the sprocket and were cleaner than before the lubricant switch. Daily maintenance calls were no longer necessary.
Now, they re-lubricate the chains every two months (instead of weekly), and it takes only 30 minutes to do, saving at least 90 hours of downtime per year.