There is an old saying, “Don’t
argue with a man about his religion or politics”.
You can add to that saying, “Or his favorite machinery or vehicle
brand”. Don’t mess with a Ford
lover with your opinions about how good a Chevrolet is.
You could get a punch in the mouth. My
father-in-law was a farmer, and believed that International Harvester was the only
tractor. His brother was a mechanic for a
John Deere dealer. At family reunions, the
arguments about which tractor was the best went hot and heavy. Men are very biased when it comes to their brand
loyalties. They believe the manufacturer of
their favorite brand can do no wrong and everything they do is the best. They would never believe that their favorite
manufacturer was doing things that was not in their best interest.
Many times when I am
talking to people about how the program of MMEL will double to triple the life of their
lubricants and machinery, they say, “Well,
if the filters used by Caterpillar or Cummins, or John Deere, or whoever, are good enough
for them they are good enough for me”. If
that is what you believe, here are the facts
I have a former employee
who was a design engineer for the largest manufacturer of asphalt pavers. These machines are totally hydraulic driven. I was talking to him about the hydraulic
filtration that they use on their pavers. I
said, “Larry, what micron filters do you use on your machines”. He said, “ Ten micron nominal”. I said, “Those filters will barely filter out
the gravel. If you put on finer filters you
could double or triple the life of your machines.”
He said, “Why would we want to do that?
We don’t get any complaints about the life of our machines. We make more money selling parts than we do
selling new machines. If we put on finer
filters, we would lose a big chunk of our parts sales.
That would be like shooting ourselves in the foot.”
I was recently talking
to a sales engineer for a firm that builds sophisticated hydraulic systems and large
hydraulic powered test stands. I was
explaining the program of MMEL, and how it would double to triple the life of lubricants
and equipment. He said, “We use 5-micron
filters”. I said, “Why do you do
that, those filters will only get ISO 17/ 15/13 The filters used by MMEL will get ISO
16/14/11, or better and will increase the life of your hydraulic systems by over
30%”. He said, “No one complains
about the life they get and we sure like the parts business”.
It you still believe
that OEM’s are working in your best interest, follow this one. For six years I was a mechanic for a Caterpillar
dealer. On parts, like bearings or filters,
that you could buy at other places, Cat had competitive prices. But, if the part could only be purchased from Cat,
the price was excessively high. If you have
been around machinery for very long, you know this to be true.
A common feature of
human beings is that we work for our own best interest.
If our best interest is also the best interest of others, then you have a
win/win situation. That is the case with
MMEL. The work we do is in our best interest
and also in your best interest. This is a
win/win situation.
The filtration put on
machines and vehicles by the OEM manufacturers is a, “they win you lose deal.”
Here is another caveat. The following is from the book, Fluid Power
Design Handbook, by Frank Yeaple. “The
art of hydraulic filtration is sufficiently advanced to practically ensure clean systems
and reduced wear-if the designers and users of the systems want to make the effort.
There are, however, a
confusing multitude of options. Therefore,
many designers and buyers of machinery and vehicles perceive the art as too sophisticated
to meet practical needs.
As a consequence, the
filtering strategy selected by many OEM designers is the cheapest that will keep the
customer’s equipment running without, too many problems between maintenance periods. Wear life of the pumps, valves, cylinders, motors
actuators, and related hardware is a secondary consideration so long as the life exceeds
maintenance periods. This philosophy can be
proved expensive in the long term.”
The knowledge and
experience of MMEL takes the confusion out of filter selection. MMEL provides practical filtration solutions that
will increase lubricant and machinery life, decrease downtime, and save you time and
money.
By Don Searles |