Graco's G3 System Cuts Grease Usage in Half for Oxford Recycling

Oxford Recycling of Englwood, Colorado has been processing asphalt, concrete and wood since 1969. The plant is capable of producing about 800 tons an hour of finished product. Those numbers come with their own complications.

John Kent, President of the company, said about these complications “It’s not uncommon for us to have 1,000 trucks a day crossing our gates. So, during that heavy load, it’s critical we have good lubrication.” Kent, who has been with the company since 1984, outlined two major problems he observed with their manual lubrication process. 

The first problem was that his machines weren’t getting enough grease during the workday. Typically, they would shut down a half hour early and grease the equipment at the end of the day. On particularly heavy days, this is simply not enough. The pins would start making noise and at that point, damage is already occurring.

The second problem is the blockage of lubrication points. This can occur when dirt or mud gets caked over the lube point. Kent said “Doing Manual greasing, people won’t bother to get it unplugged, they’ll just move on to something else”. In this particular case, they noticed these points were often missed or ignored when lubrication took place at the end of the day. 

Kent did have one reservation with installing the system. “My original perception was, because it’s automatic, it gets forgotten about.” However, his worries were put to rest once he experienced the system first-hand.  “This system will run behind the scenes. We get audio and visual alarms in the cab, showing, one, if we’re not getting grease at a particular point, or two, if it runs out of grease.”

After installing the Graco G3 Lubrication System, Kent began to notice changes immediately. “Having the G3 Lube System installed, we have experienced less downtime from pin failure. We also get better lubrication, we have no more pins that are making noise during the day” Kent went on to say “I would recommend the Graco G3 Lube System to competitors, or any company  outside of our industry, because it truly does save money, installation is easy and you have less downtime.” Or as Kent summed up his recommendation, “To me, It’s a no-brainer.”

For more information contact your local Graco distributor.