PROOF OF PERFORMANCE                               MobilSHC

Summary: Gallagher's Bakery - Saving €29,000 per year by using Mobil SHC Polyrex 222

Gallagher's Bakery

Co. Donegal,

Ireland

Background

Gallagher’s Bakery found that they were acquiring a large variety of lubricants and greases to meet their equipment builders’ lubricant recommendations. Their engineers had become concerned that they were not achieving optimum lubrication in all areas of the bakery due to the large number of lubricants being used and the possibility for misapplication.

Situation and Objectives

Gallagher’s had found that some of the greases that they were using had been “churning”, resulting in lube starvation leading to unacceptable wear in bearings. On top of this, they found that some of the greases being used had poor pumpability, again making adequate lubrication difficult.

Gallagher’s were particularly concerned about two key dough mixers. The seal systems on the mixers deteriorated to the extent that seal replacements were required every 6-8 weeks. Downtime, maintenance and parts costs were estimated at €30,000 a year. Lubrication problems and downtime in other machines were estimated to cost €8,000 annually.

Recommendations and Solutions

Burke Lubricants recommended that firstly, the lubricants were consolidated so that one grease, Mobil SHC Polyrex 222 became the main grease used in the bakery. This removed the risk of grease incompatibility – different brands of greases can have unpredictable reactions with each other when applied to bearings. This situation can lead to bearing failure, and seal degradation. Burk Lubricants also recommended Mobil Cibus SHC 220 as the main gear lubricant. Both grades are NSF H1 registered for incidental contact in food and beverage processing applications.

Mobil SHC Polyrex 222’s excellent pumpability, high temperature performance, load carrying capability, seal compatibility, excellent water wash out protection, and long life capabilities made it the ideal choice for Gallagher’s suffering points and opened the door for substantial savings.

Conclusion

Mobil SHC Polyrex 222’s performance can best be summed up by Raymond Colgan, maintenance Manager, Gallagher’s Bakery:

“We use Mobil SHC Polyrex 222 everywhere including some high temperature applications. One application in particular has been greatly improved. We have a bearing seal system on two of our mixers which we normally had to change about every six to eight weeks, now we can get seal life of up to thirty five weeks.”