Learning Sessions

Improper viscosity selection is a common cause of premature bearing wear, energy losses, and unplanned downtime. Too often, viscosity is chosen using speed factors or generic OEM guidance instead of actual operating conditions. This session presents a practical, standards-based method that uses the kappa factor (per ISO 281) to find the right viscosity. It combines rotational speed, bearing dimensions, temperature, ISO VG, and viscosity index into one clear approach.

Using real-world cases from multiple industries, attendees will learn how to select viscosity for maximum bearing life and efficiency, check whether current lubricants match actual operating conditions, and troubleshoot problems when kappa values run too high or too low. No added investment needed, just a repeatable method your team can use right away.

Many people struggle to garner sufficient support for their improvement efforts because they fail to effectively articulate numeric value. Gathering support and resources to advance reliability improvement efforts requires articulating clear value to the organization.This session helps you understand the various elements that make up a business case to support a reliability improvement effort, as well as methods that can be used to estimate the amount of value available.

Learn to articulate the various sources of value available to the maintenance organization through reliability improvement efforts, how to leverage benchmark data to estimate the amount of value available, how to effectively collate available value into a business case that feeds accountability, and how to understand the cost of risk that can be easily derived from your work order history and translated to financial value for the organization.

Most oil analysis programs are good at diagnosing current lubricant condition, but they stop short of forecasting what comes next. This session shows how AI prognostics can be applied to routine oil analysis data to predict lubricant health, estimate remaining useful life, and support smarter maintenance decisions. Attendees will learn how these tools help optimize sampling intervals, identify safe opportunities to extend lubricant service life, and reduce risk through more accurate forecasting.

Rather than just reacting to current conditions, reliability teams will see how forecasting future lubricant behavior builds confidence in maintenance planning and strengthens condition-based decision making. A basic understanding of oil analysis and condition-based maintenance is recommended.

Reliability and maintenance leaders often manage tasks well but struggle to fully develop the people behind them. This session helps leaders shift from managing to multiplying talent through practical coaching practices that build engagement, ownership, and growth on their teams. Participants will examine current engagement data, uncover common gaps between leadership intent and employee experience, and practice a simple, repeatable coaching method they can apply immediately.

Attendees will learn to spot disconnects between how they believe they're leading and how their teams actually experience it, tell the difference between managing, coaching, and multiplying behaviors, and use effective questions to build accountability and unlock better performance. Leave with a coaching approach that strengthens engagement across your team.

Real-world case studies from Georgia-Pacific, wastewater treatment operations, and Freeport LNG show how connected lubrication systems are becoming a practical entry point into the next generation of maintenance. With labor shortages, aging workforces, and rising uptime demands, reliability teams are being asked to manage more assets with fewer resources. This session shows how automated lubrication, remote monitoring, and wireless connectivity like Bluetooth and LoRaWAN let thousands of lubrication points be tracked and managed from a single location, replacing manual routes with real-time visibility. Attendees will learn how to reduce dependence on manual lubrication tasks, improve reliability through condition-based strategies, boost technician productivity, and enhance safety at hard-to-access points.

Walk away with a practical framework for moving from preventive to predictive and autonomous maintenance, and a clear view of where Maintenance 4.0 is headed.

Industrial case studies from power generation, nuclear, turbine, and hydraulic systems show measurable improvements in oil condition achieved while equipment stayed in operation. Varnish, gels, deposits, acids, and submicron contamination often persist in oil even after conventional filtration and routine maintenance, and standard tests like MPC, FTIR, TAN, RULER, and particle counting can confirm degradation without revealing the underlying mechanism.

This session introduces Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), a technique that identifies free radicals and active degradation pathways conventional tests can't detect, and shows how that diagnosis guides treatment using nanocomposite media targeted to specific contaminants. Attendees will see real results from the field and learn how to use EPR alongside standard analysis to build targeted treatment strategies. No prior EPR knowledge is required.

We have all heard the familiar definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Yet, this is precisely what continues to happen in the field of lubrication. The opportunity we face is not simply to fix what is broken. We need to fix what isn't broken, before it breaks. Achieving this requires more than incremental improvement or doing familiar things more diligently. Yet, knowing is not doing. Meaningful change can be uncomfortable and disruptive, and the greatest opportunities are often disguised as hard work.

In this session, Jim Fitch presents his paper as a lubrication expert who hypothetically owns and manages your plant, where the cost of failure and the cost of change are both on his nickel. He makes the case for moving from a reactive, condition-responsive mindset toward one centered on proactive intervention, precision lubrication, and the systematic elimination of failure causes, long before machines begin to fail.

Sight glass terminology varies widely across the industry, covering level monitors, flow indicators, BS&W bowls, gravity feeders, auto-lubricators, and more. This confusion often leaves reliability teams unsure which type fits their equipment and application. This session breaks down the many types of sight glasses available, when to use each one, and common problems tied to different designs, including how nearby components like desiccant breathers with check valves can affect performance.

Real examples from dozens of products across multiple manufacturers highlight common mistakes and practical upgrades. Attendees will learn the applications and limitations of various sight glass types, how to spot equipment issues that impede performance, and how to choose the right sight glass for a specific application to strengthen condition monitoring.

Excessive grease consumption, central greasing system plugging, water contamination, and premature component failure are persistent challenges in many lubrication programs, often the result of relying on a single multipurpose grease to simplify inventory. This session explores how a strategic change in grease thickener technology can resolve these issues and unlock reliability gains left untapped by a one-size-fits-all approach.

Attendees will review the pros and cons of common thickener types, including lithium, polyurea, calcium sulfonate, clay, and aluminum complex, along with real scenarios where switching thickeners delivers results, such as polyurea for high-temperature bearing performance or calcium sulfonate complex for water washout resistance. The session also covers compatibility concerns when introducing a new grease.