Equipment durability and reliability are the cornerstones of a successful shipping operation and as its lifeblood, it is essential that lube oil is monitored and its properties properly understood.

Depending on geographical location and laboratory of choice, the delay in receiving results may vary from several days to a number of months, in which time the window of opportunity to implement preventative measures may be missed.

Relying solely on men in white coats to analyse and interpret test results is no longer necessary - on board diagnostic equipment provides laboratory grade results and empowers engineers to make fast and informed decisions with confidence.

The direct correlation between uptime and revenue is indisputable, so with the spectre of downtime ever present, condition monitoring systems and oil analysis programmes are the first means of defence in diagnosing problems with critical ship machinery and equipment.

Providing laboratory grade results for a range of test parameters including viscocity, water in oil, total base number (TBN), insolubles, wear debris and particle content, the impact of successful troubleshooting using on board diagnostic equipment can equate to millions of dollars in savings while also avoiding increased workload and stress levels for maintenance supervisors and the crew when systems fail.

To diagnose a suspect piece of equipment, a lubricant sample can be taken and quickly tested on board.

Obtaining a representative lubricating oil sample is one of the most important parts of a scheduled oil analysis programme and most on board test equipment will provide simple guidelines to follow.

If a sample does not represent the true condition of the lubricant and component at the time of sampling, the reliability of both the test result and its interpretation is compromised. Using a representative sample to apply test parameters to is essential to maintain and protect equipment, preventing damage in advance.

Trending of these critical lubricant test parameters is extremely important and the more regular the information the better; even with the best sampling practices, occasional laboratory results can be unrepresentative and sometimes cause false alarms.

The collection and analysis of intelligent data to monitor the condition of critical machinery and facilitate proactive rather than reactive maintenance is vital for productivity and therefore key to revenue generation.

The continuing global credit squeeze has fuelled the scrutiny of every operational area for potential cost savings - some which involve stripping out costs and others that focus on investment to realise efficiencies and fundamentally improve performance.

Focus on the bottom line is unwavering, so return on any investment must be quickly evident and pronounced.  

The rate of payback from establishing an on board oil analysis programme is dependent upon several factors, for example the cost of physically repairing assets should they fail, the availability of replacement equipment and related personnel costs, the cost of lost revenue during down time, and the expense of unnecessarily replacing and disposing of the lubricant.

Efficiency has fast-become the crucial factor by which any operation that wants to survive the global recession is judged.

Those most adept at generating more from less, prolonging the life of assets and eliminating waste are the ones who will stay afloat and emerge from the economic crisis leaner, stronger and more profitable.