Oil numbers beside vibration notes, not in separate drawers

Laboratories are punctual about sending a PDF. Vibration routes are punctual about being ugly. The planner’s job is to put them in the same hour, with last year’s repair in the third pile.

When they agree

Iron up, a bearing tone up, and a ticket for that housing last winter: you have a conversation about the next stop, not about whether the instruments are “in spec.” Spec is a supplier’s sentence. The plant’s sentence is whether the housing will last until the printed window.

When they quarrel

Clean oil and a noisy route often means the sample point is downstream of a filter the vibration sensor cannot see — or the route is measuring a neighbour. We have walked halls where the oil cock belongs to a different gearbox than the tag claims. The quarrel is useful; ignoring it is how a “watch” sits for a year.

Age of the sample

A bottle from the previous contractor’s last month on site is a souvenir. We write the date in large letters on the copy we hand back. Comparing it to last week’s vibration as if they were twins is a kind of theatre.

Bring both piles, even if one is embarrassing. A single pile makes a tidy slide and a weak walk.