L-to-R: MPD Technical Advisor Tariq AlMutair, ICML Marketing Manager Paul Hiller, Executive Director Leslie Fish, MPD Maintenance Section Head Meshal Al Khaldi, and MPD Associate Engineer Muhammad Alanazi. [Photo courtesy of Meshal Al Khaldi]

Broken Arrow, OK, USA, June 19, 2024 | ICML has announced Saudi Aramco’s Manifa Producing Department (MPD) has won the 2023 John R. Battle Award for Excellence in Machinery Lubrication.

Located north of Dhahran in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia, MPD is a 685-employee operation with an eleven-member lubrication team. The company’s award application included thorough descriptions of the processes consistently employed by the team to track metrics and performance, to extend equipment life cycles, and to manage continuous improvement. Their world-class lubrication program demonstrates a strong emphasis on integration of advanced technologies, as well as training and certification of personnel.

Sadeq Alhalal, MPD’s Predictive Maintenance Leader who submitted the application, wrote, “Winning the John Battle Award is truly a great achievement for our department and I want to express my sincere gratitude.”

Led by Maintenance Section Head Meshal Al Khaldi, representatives from MPD accepted the preliminary award certificate in person at ICML’s exhibit booth during the recent Reliable Plant Conference in Chicago, USA. Al Khaldi subsequently noted on his LinkedIn.com account that the Battle Award “recognizes our team’s hard work on our robust system of machinery lubrication, maintenance practices, and strategies.” He then added, “Special thanks go to the Manifa Producing Department Director, Buti Rajeh AlSubai, for always providing us with opportunities to excel and achieve excellence on all fronts.”

When presenting the certificate to the MPD team, ICML Executive Director Leslie Fish said, “We certainly want to congratulate the MPD director for supporting the team that worked so hard not only to build this lubrication program, but also to take time to fill out the award application and send us all the supporting documentation that tells the story of what they have accomplished at Manifa.”

Signed by Fish, the preliminary award certificate states that ICML presents the Battle Award “for demonstrating exceptional commitment to the planning and implementation of outstanding maintenance practices and strategies, thus achieving unparalleled results in the optimization of machinery performance and reliability within its lubrication program.”

Fish and ICML Marketing Manager Paul Hiller will hand-deliver the actual Battle Award trophy—a replica of a sight feed oiler—during a ceremony in Saudi Arabia later this year.

ABOUT THE AWARDS

 Since 2001, ICML’s Battle and Gill Awards have recognized end-user programs that demonstrate excellence in the application of machinery lubrication and in-service lubricant analysis. ICML created these awards to encourage performance of excellence and create a means to share best practices among user organizations on a global scale. The awards are open to companies worldwide and there is no cost to apply. To remain unbiased, ICML does not nominate programs itself but only accepts submissions that come directly from the fields of industry. Applications are accepted year-round with annual cut-offs for judging. See the list of previous winners.

ABOUT ICML

 The International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML) is a vendor-neutral, not-for-profit organization founded in 2001 to help lubrication practitioners succeed in their professional careers, and to serve global industry as the world-class authority on machinery lubrication that advances the optimization of asset reliability, utilization and costs. ICML is an independently chartered organization consisting of both paid professional staff members and volunteer committees. It is a certification body serving industrial lubrication and oil analysis practitioners worldwide; a technical awards body recognizing companies that excel in oil analysis and machinery lubrication programs; a membership body engaging and promoting individuals and organizations; and a standards body developing the ICML 55® Standard for lubricated asset management. ICML certification exams are administered in accordance with ISO 18436 and are available in multiple languages worldwide.

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