As a company that started 100 years ago in mounted bearing manufacturing, and founded in 1878, Dodge knows a thing or two about those steel rollers. They’re at the centre of industry – literally keeping machinery moving, so any advancements have a big potential impact for our customers.
We sat down with Dodge to discuss why it’s important to decouple fundamental reliability from the sophistication of the maintenance team, making high-performance components inherently fail-safe and accessible to all levels of operational maturity. In this article, we look at some of the R&D advances in bearings, their installation, and the need to look beyond the failure.
Bearings Maintenance
When it comes to industry, maintenance maturity exists on a spectrum. While some facilities have predictive strategies with multi-skilled maintenance teams, many still operate predominantly in a reactive mode, where the first intervention occurs only after a machine has broken down, and they often have fewer internal maintenance skills. It’s an engineering reality that uptime often relies on rapid fixes rather than planned maintenance, and it’s this that is driving the latest evolution of bearing research and development (R&D).
Real-world maintenance scenarios
Dodge excels in R&D. They focus on engineering resilience to accommodate real-world maintenance scenarios, prioritising robustness and reducing the risk of human error during installation. And a good example of this is their latest development of housed or mounted Safety Mount™ spherical roller units. These pre-assembled components simplify the process significantly compared to traditional fitting of a standard housed spherical roller bearing. By providing a ready-in-a-case unit, they mitigate critical installation risks, reducing the potential for improper clearance and contamination, which are two of the most common causes of premature failure. Ease of installation is a big tactical advantage for facilities operating with reactive teams, as it enables rapid fixes under pressure.
Environmental Failure
Another engineering priority for Dodge R&D is tackling environmental failure. In sectors such as food and beverage, an industry area we know well at HAYLEY DEXIS, equipment is subjected to constant high-pressure cleaning and caustic washdowns. Relentless ingress of water and chemicals is exceptionally damaging to bearings. The R&D response from Dodge has been to develop their FoodSafe™ product line, incorporating advanced sealing technology and corrosion-resistant materials. Introduced in 2019 as the first IP69-rated mounted ball bearing on the market, these components are maintenance-free and backed by a 1-year guarantee against water ingress. The design transfers the burden of protection from the maintenance team to the component itself, ensuring prolonged operational life where traditional components would fail quickly.
Science of Bearings
Beyond environmental protection and ease of use, significant R&D resources are also dedicated to materials science and performance, including a proprietary electrochemical KleenTec coating, specifically designed to protect stainless steel inserts used in caustic environments that also require a high load carrying capacity.
At the same time, the focus is on integrating new component design with predictive maintenance. Dodge manufactures bearings that are inherently compatible with their OPTIFY™ performance sensors and condition-monitoring platform, enabling the component to communicate its health in real-time. For facilities with a hunger for more advanced preventive practices, this capability facilitates a shift from reactive intervention to planned, proactive replacement to prevent catastrophic failure.
Looking Past the Symptom
Beyond R&D, it’s also important to note that even the highest-quality component can still fail if installed incorrectly. That’s why we recognise that advanced components are only half the solution. The challenge of a persistent industrial skills gap requires a corresponding investment in people.
Partnering with Dodge means we can share expertise to extract maximum life and performance from a bearing and the asset it sits within. We look past the symptom (the failed bearing) and accurately identify the underlying issues, whether they are misalignment, improper lubrication, or housing fit. Precision Installation techniques can be the singular difference between a bearing lasting its expected lifespan and failing prematurely.
The People to Call in a Dark Hour
Our partnership with Dodge is also built on a shared commitment to reliability and rapid, integrated technical support. It acknowledges the reality that, despite best practices, unpredictable failures occur. As Taylor Held and Thom Woodhall from Dodge said: “I think both of our businesses are companies that people want to call in their darkest hour, and we will help them get themselves out of trouble.” And it’s true, a good partnership translates into a practical, operational safety net. It means combining extensive deep stock inventory with the deployment of technical specialists for rapid on-site diagnosis and logistical support. When a customer faces a critical operational challenge, they have access to immediate expertise and high-quality engineered solutions necessary to restore productivity rapidly, minimising the impact of a catastrophic event.
HAYLEY DEXIS and Dodge are dedicated to supporting the operational resilience of British industry by combining cutting-edge R&D in bearings with world-class support.
For more information on Dodge bearings, contact your local HAYLEY DEXIS branch.