Articles 

For Efficiency, Economy, and the Environment – Try Near Dry

2011-02-23

In the last two years, perhaps more than any other time since the dawning of the industrial age, metalworking manufacturing companies find themselves in a position requiring innovation to stay alive. For most companies looking long, profitability is an obvious priority. With ever-slimming margins it is imperative to identify and improve processes that generate ROI. Production lubrication is such a process, with an overall outlay nearing 20% of total manufacturing cost in some plants. Most companies that remove metal (i.e. milling, drilling, tapping, sawing, grinding, etc.) as a primary operation, lubricate the interface between the tooling and the piece being worked by flooding it with a water-based fluid or soluble oil to cool, remove heat and reduce friction. This flood cooling process has been widely used throughout the 20th century largely because it works well, and corresponding coolants and lubricants are inexpensive to purchase. However, because purchase price alone has ceased to be the primary consideration for lubrication in the current industrial environment, production professionals are taking a renewed look at the entire lubrication process, including lubricant, application methods and impact on the entire facility.