Scott Kwas
A Technical Advisor with a background in Aircraft Engineering, Scott has worked for Shell Canada for over a decade.
By Scott Kwas on Jun 10, 2018
Scott Kwas
Technical Advisor for Shell Lubricants, Western Canada
Scott has been a Technical Advisor at Shell Canada for four years and before that was Assistant Engineering Manager. He holds an Aircraft Maintenance Engineering licence from Transport Canada, is accredited as a Lead ISO 9001 Auditor, and qualified in Safety Management for Aviation Maintenance by the University of Southern California. His primary focus is working with customers to develop world-class lubrication programmes with a focus on lowering Total Cost of Ownership. He also provides ongoing support for products and technical issues, troubleshooting, training and assessments/audits. This includes advice on Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) matters, occupational health and local legislation on product disposal.
Read Scott’s top 5 tips on lubrication
- Your lubrication programme needs a clearly defined and documented oil analysis programme. Set specific procedures, targets, and a programme focal, with continuous reviews for improvements. This will make sure you’re on top of any changes and that equipment or oil problems are spotted quickly.
- Always follow industry best practices for lubricant storage and handling to safeguard their integrity and quality. If you don’t, it can affect your equipment’s reliability and maintenance costs. Look after both new lubricants and ones already in use (like those in your top-up containers).
- You should have a proactive maintenance programme, rather than a reactive one – don’t wait for problems to happen! Make sure you understand any equipment failures to stop them happening again, and determine if your lubricant and its condition played a part. This should assist in lowering your maintenance costs and increase equipment uptime.
- Make sure you’re using the right lubricants, including greases and coolants. Consider OEM recommendations and the operational and environmental conditions. Create a guide listing the right lubricant for each piece of equipment. This will improve your equipment’s performance and lifetime.
- Learn about lubricants and how they can lower maintenance costs and lengthen equipment life, to make the best decisions. For instance, synthetic oils cost more than conventional mineral oil – but they may work out cheaper overall, through lower maintenance costs, fuel savings, better performance in the cold, or improved uptime.
