Running a plant or production line is similar to building a machine; each part and piece needs to be in order, or nothing will work. 

Refining your practices for handling spare parts can be overwhelming. With so many shifts in markets or changes in demand, you need flexibility and good management. You need a drive always to improve your methods.

There are lots of ways to manage your spare parts in production. Some shine above the rest. Let’s break down some of the best practices in spare parts.

Getting the Most Out of Spare Parts

Spare parts are a big part of industrial work. You never want too few when you need them, but too many, and you have potential money lying around doing nothing. 

No matter what each part is for, there are sound ways to keep track of them. Try and integrate these four best practices into your spare parts management. 

1. Using CMMS Technology

In this digital age, there is little need for the older analog methods of categorizing and managing. CMMS, which stands for computerized maintenance management software, are various management software bundles.

These hosts of applications organize your stock, schedule resupplies and keeps a central location for all your documents. This type of software has made massive engineering plants possible.

Finding the best CMMS technology to use can come down to preference, but learning and integrating one into your system will be vital to your spare parts organization. 

2. Performing Reviews of Essential Parts

Nothing changes as fast as technology. As new equipment comes out and industry priorities shift, you will need to alter the spare parts you deal with.

Sometimes this will be gradual while other times it will be in dramatic changes. Either way, performing periodic reviews will let you adjust your needs as they come. 

3. Counting Stocks to Keep Discrepancies in Line

Even with the powerful CMMS technology, discrepancies will happen. Whatever the oversight is or why it came to be, doing periodic counts of stocks will help to minimize them.

Timing your stock counting right before deliveries of new items can help you integrate the new items into the system faster. If discrepancies keep happening, then that is a strong sign that a bigger issue may be to blame with incoming and outgoing orders.

4. Maintain Proper Parts Storage and Care

The final practice to keep your spare parts in a manageable position is storage and care. Each part should have organization and protection so that it is never lost or broken. 

You can do this in any number of ways. Dedicate storage areas for each different piece is a great start. For fragile pieces, add padding to the storage area.

Make sure everything has clear labels, and whoever interacts with your spare parts needs to place them in the right container every time. 

Keeping Your Production Moving

Dealing with spare parts takes an eye for both management and detail. With the right software and an aim for constant reevaluation, you can keep all the pieces together.

Kor-Pak has a variety of industrial parts for any number of machines and pieces. Keeping your own pieces running is key, so when you need quality parts, you know where to head. Contact us today for more information!

Industrial machinery is responsible for a significant part of society’s functioning. And, it’s incredible to realize that all of that relies on one often overlooked detail: machinery lubricant.

Without proper lubricant, those billions or trillions of dollars worth of machinery holding up our society would quickly shear themselves into disrepair and uselessness.

Read on to learn about three kinds of industrial machinery lubricants and how they work!

Types of Lubricants and Their Uses

There are essentially two classes of lubricants — oils and greases. Oils come in synthetic, mineral, and vegetable categories. Greases can also be made with various base oils, but are thicker.

Vegetable oil lubricants are less commonly used in the industrial machinery field. We’ll look primarily at synthetic lubricants, mineral lubricants, and grease lubricants, starting with synthetic lubricants.

Synthetic Machine Lubricant

Synthetic oils cannot be found in the natural environment. Instead, they are created by scientists and engineers to fulfill extreme need purposes.

Some industrial processes create incredible extremes in heat and friction. Natural oils may be able to cut it for ordinary purposes, but they won’t provide the extremely high flash point, fire resistance, and other qualities of synthetic oils.

While synthetic oil would be perfectly functional for everyday use, it’s probably best to stick to natural alternatives in such cases. Synthetic lubricants can be highly toxic and require a great deal of effort to dispose of properly. On top of that, they can be costly.

Mineral Oil Lubricant

Mineral oils are created out of crude oil. Depending on the level of performance you need out of them, they can only partially processed, or they can be highly refined.

Within the mineral oil category, there are various types, like naphthenic oils, which are suitable for processes that create only moderate temperatures.

Due in part to their natural occurrence in nature, mineral oils are far less toxic than synthetic oils. They are also far cheaper. Plus, mineral oils can provide just as high a level of performance as synthetic oils.

As long as you use them for standard industrial applications that don’t create extreme environments, a mineral lubricant can provide top tier performance.

Grease Lubricant

While oils can come in different levels of viscosity, or thickness, they are all essentially liquids. Grease is closer to a solid, which gives it several pros and cons.

If a contaminant touches oil, the oil may pick it up and allow it to float throughout the rest of the lubricant. Grease, on the other hand, will seal contaminants out.

Oil leaks are a fairly common occurrence, while grease sticks to the surfaces it’s applied to, so it can’t fall away.

On the other hand, grease’s greater thickness means that it creates more friction than oil. This leads to higher heating and lower speeds in industrial processes.

Find the Best Machinery Lubricant For Your Needs

For more information on all the products and services that we offer to help your workplace run as effectively as possible, check out our other pages.

Industrial machinery is steadily becoming more high-tech, with cloud, Internet of Things, and other new technologies continually improving performance. However, that doesn’t mean you can skimp on old-fashioned machine maintenance.

Even the most high-tech machinery still needs ordinary maintenance. Poorly-maintained equipment can result in heavy equipment failures and even the risk of injury to employees. 

Not sure if you’re maintaining your heavy-duty equipment correctly? Here are the top tips to keep in mind for machine maintenance. 

Check Fluids

Checking machine fluids can help you stop problems before they start. Fluids also need routine filling, even when everything’s working correctly. 

Check fluid levels and conditions to get an idea of how well your machines are functioning. Regular fluid analysis will help you catch problems early on before they cause big issues. If you notice fluid levels changing faster or slower than usual, that’s another possible sign of a problem. 

Cultivate Familiarity

Good maintenance means not waiting until something goes wrong. The more familiar you are with your machines when they’re working well, the easier it will be to catch an issue.

Familiarize yourself with equipment manuals to learn what’s normal and what isn’t. Your manuals will also help you know when to schedule routine service. 

Even if you don’t operate the machine regularly, someone does. Get your whole team on board with cultivating familiarity with the equipment. 

Record Everything

Keeping a record of maintenance, breakdowns, and everything else that happens with your equipment creates a valuable body of knowledge.

From the moment you get a machine, start a record of everything notable about it. Modern technology makes it easy to keep this information online, where it can be accessed and updated by anyone involved with that machine. 

Any scheduled servicing, unexpected repairs, and other notable events can go into this record. When something seems wrong with a machine, looking at its history can help you get an idea of what to do next. 

Make a Preventative Program

It’s clear that the essential machine maintenance is preventative. If you wait until something’s seriously wrong, you’ve waited too long. 

Make a scheduled servicing and preventative maintenance program to keep things running smoothly. Replace parts, inspect the equipment, refill fluids, and otherwise care for your machinery as needed. 

It’s also good to periodically test the performance as part of this program. These tests will show when something is starting to go wrong before it becomes a serious problem. 

Don’t Delay: Start Machine Maintenance Now 

If you’ve been slow to do machine maintenance, your equipment is probably breaking down more than it should. Don’t wait to implement these practices. The sooner you begin, the more money you can save. 

Maintenance doesn’t just save money by preventing equipment failures, though. It also helps keep you and your employees safe by avoiding dangerous mishaps. Workplace safety is one of the most important aspects of working with heavy machinery, and maintenance is a crucial part of safety. 

Doing maintenance doesn’t mean you’ll never need to repair your equipment, but it will make those repairs less frequent. Are you looking for repair help? Check out our services here!

Is waterjet technology the best choice for your cutting needs? In most cases, yes, it is.

For starters, it’s very cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly. It cuts with top-notch power and precision. 

It’s safe to use for almost every cutting job and won’t cause unwanted damage or warping. Beyond this, waterjet cutting avoids many problematic side-effects that other cutting methods cause.

And that’s only the half of it. Learn all about the fantastic advantages of waterjet cutting in full detail from this guide.

1. Cold Cutting

Cutting torches require heat and actual flame to cut. These two things can be problematic, causing collateral damage to heat-sensitive objects nearby. Warping, for instance, is a very common problem with hot cutting.

In other situations, a cutting torch could even cause mass destruction and death. For example, one obviously can’t use a torch for any cutting job that’s close to highly-combustible gasses and materials.

For jobs like these, cutting cold is imperative. Thus, a waterjet provides a perfect alternative when a torch is out of the question.

2. Eco-Friendliness

Furthermore, there are no greenhouse gasses or toxic fumes emitted from waterjet cutting, as there are with other cutting methods. Neither does it produce hazardous dust.

Waterjets also use no harmful chemicals, only naturally-occurring/recyclable water and abrasive minerals like garnet. Plus, the cold cutting of waterjets prevents the dross waste, and slag deformation that plasma or laser cutting can cause.

3. Fast and Efficient Cutting

Waterjets are extremely powerful and cut easily through most materials, more easily than other cutting methods in most cases. Because of this, waterjets can get far more cutting done in far less time compared to other options.

This also means that waterjets are efficient at conserving materials (the water plus abrasive compound). Most first-time waterjet users are surprised at how much of these materials are leftover when the job is completed.

4. Low Cost

Because of the factors mentioned above, waterjets are typically your cheapest cutting option. Obviously, the water doesn’t cost much, especially when the waterjet is so efficient at conserving it. 

The abrasive compound can be a little pricey. But again, the waterjet is very efficient at conserving this as well. 

It’s efficiency also means less time spent cutting. That means less money spent on hourly wages or equipment leases.

5. Precision Cutting

Waterjets cut very precisely with tolerances around +/- 0.005″. However, tolerances vary among different manufacturers. Still, generally, waterjets cut net-shape or near-net-shape with little-to-no secondary processing required.

Waterjets can cut omnidirectionally. And they can usually perforate the material to be cut without the need for starting holes.

6. An Extremely Smooth Cut

Another great benefit is that waterjets smooth as they cut. Other cutting methods require smoothing edges as a secondary step after cutting. Waterjets save time by doing both of these steps at once.

The Benefits of Waterjet Technology

Waterjet technology saves you money, gets the job done fast, and spares the environment (and your project site) from unnecessary harm. For all these reasons and more, a waterjet machine could be the perfect tool for your cutting needs. Consider a waterjet for your next cutting project.

For more about waterjets, check out Water Jet Cutting and Its Many Uses in Machining and Fabrication.

In Hydraulics 101, you’d probably learn how this form of power works. A fluid pushed through the system transfers force from one area to another. In its simplest form, you’d find such a mechanism in a log cutter. 

But you’re not here for Hydraulics 101 — you want to know more. Indeed, there’s a lot to explore when it comes to the hydraulic system, its components, and its powerful potential. 

Here’s what you need to know: 

How Does Liquid Power a Hydraulic System? 

You might be wondering how liquid has so much power inside of a hydraulic system. Wouldn’t it be better off with a solid or gas component? 

A solid provides too much resistance. You know this if you’ve ever tried to mold or move material such as metal. It’s nearly impossible to shift and manipulate solids with your hands.

Then there’s gas, which gives way too quickly. Imagine having a balloon full of it — you can squeeze and push helium around. It doesn’t provide much resistance, thus generating little power. 

But liquid works perfectly when it comes to hydraulics. It moves much more easily than solids, but they don’t change shape like a gas.

So, if you push liquids with a piston, they will move, but their volume won’t contract and change. As such, they can fill the allotted space and push the hydraulic system to work. Interesting, right?

How Does a Hydraulic Pump Work?

Hydraulic pumps power everything from brakes to cranes to gasoline pumps to amusement park rides.

And the pump serves a specific purpose. It creates no pressure but instead creates a vacuum with its movement. Hydraulic fluid fills the void, then flows into the rest of the system.

The movement of the fluid is what creates pressure and power. And there are multiple types of hydraulic pumps that perform this function.

A rotary pump, for instance, carries the hydraulic liquid from its inlet to outlet in a circular motion, much like the gear of a rotary phone. 

What Are Some Common Hydraulic Problems? 

Hydraulics work well, but they’re not perfect systems. They come down with issues, many of which are easy to spot because of the symptoms.

Keep an ear — and eye — out for new noises, as well as increased temperatures. If your hydraulics slow down, that could be a sign of trouble, too. 

Most of the time, it’s heat or water contamination that alters the function of a hydraulic system. The earlier you catch this type of malfunction, the better. Otherwise, it could damage the pump, the most expensive component to replace. 

You can get ahead of hydraulic problems by maintaining your systems, as well. 

Hydraulics

You already had the basics down. Now, you’ve explored hydraulics at a higher level. As such, you understand how the pumps push liquid to create power and how they can malfunction.

Need more information on hydraulics or other types of industrial equipment. Check out our blog for more.

Rust might be on the body of your car or in your home’s water. In its early stages, rust is usually not harmful, just unsightly. At its worst, it might rub off on your clothes and leave a stain.

But, on something like a highway overpass or an offshore rig, the issues of rusted metal take on a different scale. If it’s not addressed, these industrial pieces can become dangerous and structurally unsound. 

The good news is, staying informed can prevent dangerous oversights in care and maintenance. Read on to learn what causes rusted metal and how it can impact your operation’s equipment. 

What is Rust?

Rust is a form of corrosion that only affects iron and its alloys, including steel. Rust is also known as iron oxide. It usually looks red or brownish, but it can take on different colors depending on its chemical makeup.

Rust develops when iron reacts with the air and water in its environment. In later stages, the rust will peel or flake off.

Rust and Industrial Machinery

Over time, rust will dissolve iron materials. What starts as surface rust can eventually make its way to the center of metal. Rust creates weak spots in iron and steel, much like rot destroys wood. 

Since most industries use iron or steel equipment, rust poses a severe threat to the majority of industrial operations. It can compromise the strength of marine ships, oil rigs, and even railroad tracks.

Plus, rust doesn’t even require extreme circumstances to form. Rust can start to develop any time the air temperature is above freezing, and the air has at least 70% humidity. 

It also costs a lot of money to fix. Pipeline corrosion alone costs at least $9 billion each year between maintenance costs and lost product. 

What To Do If You Find Rusted Metal

If you’re wondering how to remove rust, you can start with an industrial rust removal solvent. It will strip away the layer of rust and protect the metal underneath from additional corrosion. 

While rust can do a lot of damage over time, there are a few strategies that can keep it from spreading. The key is to protect the metal from as much air and moisture as possible.  

A coat of acrylic paint can help protect the iron or steel from air and water. Just make sure to avoid water-based paint, since that will make the rust worse. You can also apply a layer of oil or grease, but this is much more temporary than paint. 

Another excellent method is to establish a cleaning and maintenance schedule. Regularly cleaning and drying exposed metal can protect it from rust. 

If your equipment is near salt water or in humid environments, you may need to replace parts more often. It’s essential to maintain and replace rusty parts before the rust spreads to critical parts of the machinery. 

Keep Your Equipment Functioning

Rusted metal is much more than a cosmetic problem. It can make machines, bridges, heavy machinery, and ships break down over time. If you don’t address it, the rust will spread and eat away at the metal. 

Whether you need to order custom parts or schedule a repair service, Kor-Pak can help. Contact us today to learn how we can help you combat rust in your operation.