Lubricant considerations for low operational cost fleet management
Internal cost pressures and variability in equipment quality, performance among manufacturers are some of the reasons why managers are no longer sticking to a single manufacturer. While this can reduce costs and sometimes improve performance, the tradeoffs seem more complex. For starters, different OEMs have different maintenance interval requirements, and recommend different lubricant specifications, which becomes challenging to sustain properly.
Procurement managers can reduce costs in various ways like lubricant inventory streamlining, repair cost reductions, improved fuel efficiency to maximize equipment uptime and optimizing fleet equipment cost of ownership.
Lubricants contribute to around two to three percent of costs during the lifetime of mining vehicles. High-quality lubricants and ancillary products deliver much more than short-term savings which is why with Caltex Delo’s range of lubricants the cost of inventories and management time will be greatly reduced.
For example, Caltex Delo 400 MGX SAE 15W-40 has the potential to decreases downtime, repairs and maintenance expenses by delivering the long-term engine protection your mining fleet needs to stay profitable. Like many in the Caltex range, Delo products are designed to meet a wide range of fleet applications reducing inventory management time along with procurement administration.
Typically, mining vehicle parts and repairs cost around 32 percent, depreciation contributes to 19 percent and fuel costs are around 26 percent. With that expenditure, the balance between profitability and operating losses are quite slim. One common denominator for savings across these costs is careful and correct lubricant selection.
By selecting Delo lubricants and ancillary products, vehicle components experience minimised wear and repair. Not only does this reduce downtime but also depreciation factor and saving fuel costs too.
With Caltex Delo, our mining industry experts will help guide you to identify the optimum lubricants and ancillary products for the needs of your operation.
