Success Story
Industry: Food & Beverage
Application: Confectionary Washing Process
Cost Savings: € 94 664
Introduction
A confectionary manufacturer was experiencing short service life (only 3 months) from deep groove ball bearings used in a Dürr Head Wash application. Due to the high levels of water used in the process, water ingress into the bearings caused their premature failure. This resulted in costly downtime and loss of production. NSK recommended the use of Stainless Steel bearings fitted with Molded-Oil lubrication. These are designed to perform well in wet applications. Regular monitoring of the application showed that the bearing lifetime was extended to over 18 months which represented a significant improvement on the original design.
- Head washing
- Molded-Oil Bearings
Key Facts
- Wash Application in a Confectionary Manufacturer
- Wet Environment causing standard bearings to fail prematurely
- Unplanned failure of the machine resulted in loss of production
- Service life only 3 months
- Maintenance time of 4 hours for each failure
- NSK Stainless Steel Molded Oil bearings trialled
- Resultant performance increased to greater than 18 months
Value Proposals
- Investigation of the application showed that water ingress was causing premature bearing failure
- NSK recommended using stainless steel Molded-Oil deep groove ball bearings to prolong the bearing life
- The new bearings were installed and monitored with no failures for 18 months
- With these results a subsequent cost saving was presented and signed by the customer for €94.700
- Customer benefited from increased productivity and reduced maintenance costs on his production line
Product Features
- Complete stainless steel bearing assembly ideal for corrosive environments Molded-Oil Lubrication System provides a sealed for life bearing solution
- Grease-free property with no oil refilling keeps operating environments clean
- Operating life more than twice as long as grease lubrication, in water or dust-contaminated environment
- High integrity contact-seal type
- Achieves extended maintenance-free performance as Molded-Oil provides a continuous supply of lubricant. Available for high speed applications
- Available in ball bearing, spherical roller bearing and tapered roller bearings types
Cost Saving Breakdown
| Before | Cost p.a. | NSK Solution | Cost p.a. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearing Costs: Bearing costs | €114 | Bearing Costs: Bearing costs | €370 | |
| Engineering Costs: Engineering costs: 2 men @ € 33/h each × 4 hours repair time × the qty of bearing replacements over the period |
€1.584 | Engineering Costs: Engineering costs: 2 men @ €33/h each × 4 hours repair time |
€264 | |
| Costs of lost production: Potential lost sales profit: € 3.900 per hour × 4 hours downtime over the period |
€93.600 | Costs of lost production | ||
| Total Costs | € 95 298 | € 634 | ||
Reference:SS-E-2034
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