The above-mentioned situation explains the driving forces for companies to reduce
the use of process fluids; environmental and health concerns, quality issues and
economic reasons. Cost optimisation of the use of process fluids is comprised of
various measures, including improvement of fluid performance, reduction of environmental
and occupational hazards and increasing efficiency of waste treatment.
The main way to improve the performance of the fluids is to extend chemical life
in production systems (IAMS 1995). Costs of handling chemicals and environmental
control may be reduced if the number of various process fluid products used in a
plant is also reduced, which is why standardisation is an important means in
improvement work.
In order to implement the above-mentioned activities to reduce costs of fluid
management, sufficient knowledge about the entire process and individual operations
where fluids are used is needed (Mont et al. 2003). However, various actors
have access to knowledge and expertise in the various parts that constitute processes:
chemicals, equipment, machining, etc. The diversity of actors who hold parts
of information leads to the need for collaboration, not only between the company