PAS Grantham Ltd. (McCain) produce a nutritious and delicious assortment of products, including oven chips, home fries, french fries, low fat french fries and have also entered into the mini pizza market. Their foods are made with quality in mind. Not only do they carefully select their ingredients, they also adhere to a strict manufacturing process. This manufacturing process helps the company increase equipment reliability and productivity, and decrease operating costs.

Tim Wainwright, Mechanical Engineer at PAS Grantham Ltd. (McCain) for the past 32 years, says that the greases they use in their machinery play a big role in their manufacturing protocol, and in the company’s ability to increase productivity and decrease operating costs. PAS Grantham Ltd.’s (McCain’s) Total Preventative Maintenance program is a cornerstone of their business and Tim constantly searches for products that will enhance their capabilities to achieve quality improvement throughout the plant.

The production lines at PAS Grantham Ltd. (McCain) run 24 hours per day at least five days per week – sometimes even seven days per week. If a machine goes down it can result in the entire line being shut down. “When the line goes down it costs us £900 per hour – that’s the figure we use as our benchmark,” says Tim. “Productivity is everything and proper lubrication plays an integral role. We are always looking for lubricants that will perform, protect and save us money by reducing downtime and increasing operational efficiencies.” A Petro-Canada account manager suggested that PAS Grantham put “food safe” PURITY FG2 Synthetic Grease to the test.

In 2004, Tim ran a 6-month trial using Petro-Canada’s PURITY FG2 Synthetic Grease – an advanced food grade grease specially formulated for the toughest food processing applications.

He compared it to his existing product to see which grease provided better protection of gears, bearings and equipment. Tim also compared the difference in cost between the two products.

“Lubrication improvements were noticeable. There was a decrease in actual volume used versus what we were using before, and our reliability was enhanced,” explains Tim. “Petro-Canada’s account manager ensured we achieved excellent efficiency results by ensuring that we had the right products for all of our applications.”

“After this 6-month trial of PURITY FG2 Synthetic Grease we quickly realized the benefits of the product. There wasn’t any need to do any further trials; we went ahead and switched to a full line of PURITY products, including PURITY FG2 Grease, PURITY FG00 Grease and PURITY FG AW Hydraulic Fluid 68.” PURITY FG2 is now used on their standard conveyors, PURITY FG2 Synthetic on their steam peelers and fryers, PURITY FG AW Hydraulic Fluid 68 on their freezer chains and PURITY FG00 on their auto lube systems. PURITY FG Gear and Hydraulic Fluids are also used throughout the PAS Grantham plants.