Sinclair Refinery Named Battle Award Winner

The Sinclair refinery in south-central Wyoming has been chosen as the recipient of this year’s International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) John R. Battle Award for excellence in the application of machinery lubrication. Jonathan McNees, the plant’s maintenance engineer, along with lubrication technician Gene Goetz accepted the award on behalf of Sinclair during the recent 2014 Reliable Plant conference and exhibition in San Antonio, Texas.

“We are honored to accept this award,” McNees said. “We’ve worked really hard for it over the past year, and we still have a lot of work to do. I would like to thank the Sinclair management team for allowing us to have the freedom to get this program installed. I also would like to thank Noria for helping us along the way. We appreciate all your help.”

ICML congratulates the entire Sinclair team involved in the refinery’s lubrication program on their journey toward world-class status.

Designed to motivate companies to improve machine reliability and maintenance quality through development, implementation and management of a best-in-class machinery lubrication program, the John R. Battle Award has specific criteria for potential recipients. These include:

• Commitment to education and skills competencies
• Maintenance culture and management support
• Lubricant selection, lubricant performance standards and lubricant consolidation
• Preventive, predictive and proactive program design and effectiveness
• Lubrication program metrics and overall performance tracking
• Lubricant storage, handling, safety and conservation
• Lubrication PM optimization, work plan management, scheduling and documentation
• Oil analysis program design, test slates, lab selection and setting of alarms
• Oil analysis sampling frequency, sampling hardware and procedures
• Contamination exclusion and removal
• Oil and grease application methods and hardware deployed
• Continuous improvement

Both the John R. Battle and Augustus H. Gill awards are open to organizations worldwide. A company does not need to be involved with ICML to receive an award. Currently, there is no charge to participate in the awards process. However, in order to avoid bias, ICML has chosen a policy by which it does not nominate companies. Nominations must come from the companies directly via an application.

If you know of an organization that deserves to be recognized for its machinery lubrication or oil analysis program, encourage them to apply for an ICML award.

To submit a nomination for one of ICML’s recognition of excellence awards, visit www.lubecouncil.org and click “awards.” The online application form can be saved and returned as the required information is gathered. Supporting documentation can then be uploaded as the application is submitted.