Company Overview
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Our story began over 50 years ago, when founding directors Lesley and Wally Crawford, and Gary Brown set up oil analysis operations in 1976 in a home laboratory. Their initial test portfolio comprised six elements – viscosity, water, fuel, sludge and debris analysis, with no automation. The company employed 10 people and processed less than 500 samples per month.
From those humble beginnings, the company has flourished and grown, and today WearCheck is one of the leading condition monitoring specialists on the African continent, processing in excess of 600 000 samples per annum. We have evolved into a one-stop-shop for a vast range of reliability solutions services across many industries, and we are proud to be a member of the prestigious WearCheck International Group (WCI).
The WCI is an association of independent laboratories around the globe, dedicated to oil and wear particle analysis. WearCheck’s relationship with the WCI allows for the ongoing exchange of advanced technical information, and the ability to offer a worldwide service.
WHY USE WEARCHECK?
One of WearCheck’s fundamental goals is to save money and time for customers by improving the availability, reliability and efficiency of their machinery through regular maintenance and tailored condition monitoring programmes.
The development of WearCheck’s reliability solutions division embraces the latest approach to proactive maintenance – the search for ways to extend the life of components to prevent premature failure, thereby boosting general plant health. The underlying philosophy is that any good proactive maintenance programme boosts both plant availability as well as plant reliability.
WHO USES CONDITION MONITORING?
Using results from the scientific analysis of used oil, fuels, coolants and greases from components for plant maintenance decisions, many industries benefit from WearCheck’s services, among them mining, earthmoving, industrial, transport, shipping, aviation and electrical operations.
WHERE CAN I FIND WEARCHECK
WearCheck’s expansive network of 15 laboratories spans the African continent and beyond, including Modderfontein in Gauteng, Westville in KwaZulu-Natal, Middelburg, Lumwana mine and Kitwe in Zambia, as well as Ghana, Mozambique, DRC, Zimbabwe, Namibia, India and Dubai, with additional offices in Cape Town, Kathu, Bloemfontein, Rustenburg, East London and Port Elizabeth.
WearCheck has a unique achievement – we are the only oil analysis company in Africa with ISO 9001 quality certification and ISO 14001 certification for our environmental management programme, as well as being accredited with the ISO 17025 laboratory centric quality management programme.
OIL ANALYSIS SERVICES
Oil analysis is as important for maintenance engineering as blood testing is for medicine. It is the scientific analysis of all types of lubricants and transformer oils, coolants, greases and filters and is an established method for predictive and preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance programmes are essential for optimising operational efficiency, reliability and performance of mechanical and electrical systems. WearCheck offers many services for predictive and preventive maintenance, including competitive pricing and short turnaround time. Analyses are carried out at state-of-the-art, custom built, automated laboratories with interpretation and reports being completed by our highly-qualified diagnosticians.
The company’s services include:
Viscosity
Density
Distillation
Flashpoint
Water (by Karl Fischer)
Appearance / colour
Wear metals
Particle contamination
Dissolved gases
Total acid and base numbers
Moisture
Dielectric strength
Visual colour
PCB analysis
RULER test
Copper and silver corrosion
Air release
RELIABILITY SOLUTIONS SERVICES
Added to the analysis of oils, fuels, coolants and greases are our Reliability Solutions services, which include:
Thermal imaging
Vibration analysis
Laser alignment
Balancing
The Station Thermal Efficiency Program (STEP), Coal Accounting and Plant Performance Monitoring Services.
Plant Performance Monitoring of Boiler, Turbine and Auxiliary Plant.
Routine testing and verification of raw data from plant used in the STEP system or similar programs to produce thermal performance results.
Investigations and report with recommendations on the plant failures or incidents.
Advice on the plant performance tests, including the load lines, clean air curves, plant inspections, air flow test, air heater leakage tests, O2 verification tests, temperature traverse tests, gas velocity tests, condenser tests, dew point test, pulverized fuel sampling tests, generator H2 leak test, HP & LP heater performance tests and any other performance and testing tests required for the plant optimisation.
Assistance with the following during outages: air heater shoe gaps and seals settings, pulverised fuel burner settings, mills settings, draught plant settings, zeroing of coal conveyor mass meters and any other settings that may be required during the plant outages.
Weekly plant walk-downs and liaison with the operating department for any deviations that are visible on the plant for corrective action to be taken. The activities are performed on the whole station, including turbine, boiler, mills and outside plant
WEARCHECK’S LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS
Our ongoing investment in new technology guarantees that all equipment in WearCheck’s laboratories is state-of-the-art, and enables us to match – and even surpass – the services offered by our local and international counterparts. The ever-increasing range of advanced equipment in these custom built laboratories includes:
Inductively-coupled plasma spectrometers
Fourier transform infra-red spectrometer
HIAC and PAMAS (GmbH) particle counters
ISL Houillon viscometers
Gas chromatographs
Rotary particle depositors
Particle quantifiers
Microscopes
Image processing systems
Distillation and flashpoint apparatus
High performance liquid chromatography systems
Karl Fischer titration
Dielectric strength testers: Air release tester, Kruss K11 tensiometer, ADU 5 distillation unit, SVM3001 stabinger viscometer, PMA 5 Pensky-Martens closed-cup flash point tester
A high degree of automation in the laboratories ensures reliability of results and has virtually eliminated time-consuming paper work.
HOW FAST ARE SAMPLES PROCESSED?
There are several options to speed up the delivery of samples to the laboratory and more than 95% of all samples are processed within 24 hours of the sample reaching the laboratory.
OTHER WEARCHECK SERVICES
Other WearCheck services include:
Telephonic, on-line and on-site support
Advice from WearCheck’s highly-qualified and experienced diagnosticians, including in-depth investigations and troubleshooting.
Suppliers of a wide variety of different sample kits and accessories such as sampling valves and extraction pumps.
Regular technical publications and conferences,
A comprehensive training programme, offered both on-site in several countries and at WearCheck’s offices. Courses include several levels of oil analysis training as well as a range of Mobius reliability solutions qualifications.
WEARCHECK ONLINE
WearCheck Online is a web based service which allows customers to receive their WearCheck results on the Internet and to manage their oil analysis programme from their own computer or smartphone. It also permits two-way communication, enabling customers to use the system to submit information to WearCheck, ensuring that it is immediately integrated into the system. WearCheck Online employs drop-down menus to view results, to print reports, tables and lists, and to create charts and graphs.
Reports are communicated either by e-mail, SMS or WhatsApp.
