And while the contributions of Jack Fields will be missed, we wish him well in his retirement. One of the Mechanical Department's initiatives involves flange lubricators, which are installed on about 3,000 road locomotives. The flange lubricator applies a small amount of grease to the locomotive's wheel flange, which in turn transfers the lubricant to the rail and the flanges trailing cars. The result is a 3.5-percent reduction in fuel consumption as well as a decrease in wheel and rail wear. Although the process seems simple, historically the lubrication systems have been unreliable.
Maintenance is difficult, and in cold weather, reliability of the system is questionable at best.
An equipment supervisor for the Mechanical Department at Topeka, Hric was assigned in January 1999 to lead a team to improve the lube system's performance. Under Hric's guidance, the team identified problems with the existing lubricators and made those known to the manufacturers. Hric used the Six Sigma process to identify the problem components in the lubricator and to establish test criteria for improved components. But Hric didn't stop there. On her own initiative, she contacted a second supplier of flange lubricators to develop retrofit kits to upgrade existing BNSF lubricators at a reduced price.