
How a hydraulic fluid upgrade helped save $10,708 by reducing maintenance costs and extending oil drain intervals.
The Challenge:
Plastics manufacturer Amaray specialises in injection-moulded covering inlays for DVD trays. The company was looking to lower the operating costs of its two Engel Victory VC 500/150 Plastic Injection Molding Machines. The customer turned to the Shell Lubricants team for advice.
The Solution:
Shell Lubricants technical experts evaluated the injection moulding machines and identified that savings depended on reducing maintenance costs, extending oil drain intervals (ODIs), lowering energy use and reducing production loss during equipment downtime. They proposed switching the hydraulic fluid to Shell Tellus S4 ME 46, which offers longer ODIs than the lubricant previously used by the customer. Shell Tellus S4 ME 46 worked without any problems in the machine for over 45,000 hours – over 7 times longer than OEM recommended oil change of 6,000 hours. The product is also designed to help improve energy efficiency for hydraulic systems without compromising system protection. In addition to upgrading the product, the recommendation was also to make use of the Shell LubeAnalyst oil and equipment monitoring service.
The Results:
The company reported savings of $10,708 or 14% for the two machines. The savings come from:
- Lower maintenance costs
- Longer ODIs resulting in lower lubricants costs and savings on oil change
- Reduced production loss during oil change and maintenance