In October 2024, the Owens Corning Jacksonville plant launched a comprehensive lubrication improvement initiative to address a persistent challenge: bearing failures across the plant. Multiple breakdown analyses revealed a recurring root cause: improper or insufficient lubrication.
To quantify the impact, we reviewed failure data from February 2023 through September 2024 (excluding January due to a plant maintenance shutdown). The analysis showed that bearing-related issues accounted for most of the unplanned downtime and slow-time events during this period, resulting in approximately 2.5 days of lost production over 17 months. The associated opportunity cost exceeded several hundred thousand dollars.
This data-driven review underscored the urgency of improving lubrication practices and provided the foundation for a focused reliability initiative.
Identifying the Primary Driver
Our next step was to determine the dominant factor behind these failures. We began by trending events by month to identify seasonal or operational patterns; however, this did not yield any actionable insights. When we filtered failures by root cause, the results were clear: 87.5% of downtime related to bearing failures was attributed to improper lubrication.
This finding became the catalyst for our 2025 Lubrication Initiative, a targeted effort to improve lubrication practices, enhance reliability, and reduce downtime plant-wide.
Setting Goals and Building Strategy
We established a measurable objective: reduce downtime related to bearing failures by 30% within the first year. Achieving this required a thorough understanding of our current processes and their shortcomings. Using a 5W2H analysis, our maintenance leadership and technicians mapped existing workflows, identified gaps, and developed a targeted improvement strategy.
Historically, our facility operated in a reactive state. Technicians were frequently interrupted during grease routes by emergency calls, leaving critical lubrication points missed. Concurrently, PM procedures were being updated based on breakdown analysis findings to reflect actual equipment conditions.
Targeting High-Risk Systems
We prioritized one of our highest-risk systems, an area consuming a significant portion of our most critical lubrication route and decided to automate it. Guided by Noria/ICML training principles, we focused on delivering lubrication with the right lubricant, in the right place, in the right amount, at the right time, and in the right condition.
The application presented unique challenges: a harsh environment with sand, granules, dirt, water, and soap exposure, as well as bearings subjected to constant impact and medium-speed rotation. We confirmed that our lubricant, a synthetic calcium sulfonate complex grease with a polyalphaolefin base, was appropriate for these conditions, offering excellent mechanical stability, EP protection, corrosion resistance, and washout resistance.
From Manual to Automated Precision
With the correct lubricant in place, we addressed delivery. Clear signage was installed to indicate bearing locations and required grease quantities, improving consistency and technician accountability. However, manual methods were insufficient for this system. We partnered with a supplier to install an automated system featuring an 8-liter reservoir and progressive distribution blocks for precise delivery.
After installation and troubleshooting, PM time for this route dropped from 2 hours to 20 minutes—an 83% reduction per day. This freed technicians for higher-value tasks while ensuring consistent lubrication.
Building on this success, we deployed smaller-scale solutions throughout the plant, pairing single-point lubricators with progressive blocks for clusters of 4–8 bearings. This approach simplified maintenance and reduced manual intervention in compact lubrication zones.
Innovating Against Contamination
In one of our most contaminated areas subject to contamination through water, dirt, sand, shingle material, and granules, we trialed Enviropeel, an oil-impregnated thermoplastic coating applied to bearings. Once hardened, it forms a protective shell that seals out contaminants while allowing shaft rotation. This product reduced grease consumption from 7–10 cc per day to 0.87 cc, a 91.3% reduction, while improving bearing reliability and aligning lubrication practices more closely with OEM recommendations.
Although full implementation is pending, the opportunity is clear: reduced waste, improved efficiency, and enhanced reliability.
Results and Cultural Shift
To date, we’ve installed remote lubrication lines on over 100 bearings and automated systems on more than 100 bearings, reducing weekly PM labor by 24 hours, approximately 1,248 hours annually. These improvements have shifted our maintenance culture from reactive to a more proactive approach, enabling technicians to focus on strategic reliability tasks. These achievements have increased the maintainability of our equipment. Reinvesting the time saved on PMs into other proactive objectives has increased the reliability of our equipment and helped to cultivate a positive culture.
Challenges included troubleshooting pressure, electronics, contamination, and system functionality, but the results speak for themselves. The initiative has improved plant-wide reliability and established lubrication best practices that will continue to drive performance.
Next Steps
Our next phase will focus on operator training to align with TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) principles, making lubrication an autonomous task. Operators have been trained to monitor centralized and single-point systems, including indicator lights, error messages, and fill levels. While some areas are still transitioning, the foundation is in place for sustainable success.
Shifting Toward Proactive Maintenance and Failure Management
As we move toward a more proactive approach, our focus is on expanding beyond lubrication to include training and failure management. While lubrication remains critical in reducing equipment failures, understanding and managing those failures is equally vital. As preventive maintenance routines become more precise and technicians more skilled, we see measurable results.
Improved visibility on the production line and targeted training in failure recognition have significantly reduced unplanned downtime. Today, we can identify and replace failing components during scheduled outages, rather than scrambling for emergency repairs late on a Saturday night.
Our initial goal was clear: reduce downtime and slow-time (DT/ST) costs from unplanned bearing failures by 30%.
The results have exceeded expectations:
36.5% less DT/ST cost compared to 2024
In the first year of this initiative, we’ve surpassed our original target. While work remains, including training completion and system implementation, the results speak for themselves. After just one year, we can confidently say: it works.
After going through Noria training, we were able to identify weaknesses in our previous strategy and begin to make systematic corrections. Our approach can be summarized as follows:
- Assess your current state
- Set clear, attainable goals
- Select and/or consolidate lubricants
- Standardize PMs and focus on specific failure modes
- Train technicians and operators
- Implement lubrication technology and monitor performance
- Adjust as necessary and build a culture of world-class reliability
This structured methodology has been instrumental in transforming our maintenance culture and delivering sustainable reliability and maintainability improvements.
