Shell Malaysia recently took the opportunity to share its technological know-how to key trade partners at the Shell Technovation 2017 Conference with the aim of helping them achieve lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
The one-day conference was attended by more than 200 trade partners and industrial customers, where they learned about the importance of lubricant management to achieve lower TCO, and updates on the grease technology and its effective usage to minimise equipment downtime, among others.
According to Shell Lubricants General Manager for Malaysia and Singapore, Baljit Singh, it was about understanding the customers’ requirements in today’s business context, and then working with them as strategic partners to meet the changing industry needs.
“We have global presence and resources, plus a history in Malaysia that spans more than 125 years. We offer much more than just leading class lubricant products for their equipment – we know the market here and understand our Malaysian customers. Our technology leadership, technical expertise and rich experience has allowed us to effectively apply learnings drawn from all over the world to offer a more consultative approach for our customers,” he said.
Many companies across different industry sectors already apply TCO evaluations, knowing that reducing TCO over the lifetime of any machinery is key to extracting the best possible value from the investment. Yet the impact of lubrication on TCO is too often underestimated.
An international study commissioned by Shell Lubricants discovered that many companies were missing an opportunity for significant cost savings due to a lack of understanding about how effective lubrication can help lower costs and improve equipment reliability.
The study found that in the construction sector, 67% of companies do not believe that selecting a higher quality lubricant can help to reduce unplanned downtime, and 54% do not expect it to help cut maintenance costs.
In the mining sector, the study found that 96% of mining companies reported experiencing unplanned equipment shutdowns in the last three years, with over half (56%) acknowledging that this was due to their incorrect selection or management of lubricants. This had a direct financial impact, at a time when cost competitiveness is a priority for mining companies.
