The Situation
The customer, a recycling plant operator in the East of England, was experiencing regular failures of a mounted bearing unit within their optical sorting machine. In just three months, five bearing failures had occurred. Excessive downtime and spiralling maintenance costs were beginning to severely impact the business.
The Solution
HAYLEY DEXIS worked closely with their strategic supply partner, NSK, who had already been on-site to perform a review and failure analysis. A finding of the analysis was that vibration and lubrication issues were causing excessive heat generation which was resulting in the premature failures. HAYLEY DEXIS and NSK recommended SNN Plummer Blocks and NSKHPS Spherical Roller Bearings as a solution. The SNN Plummer Blocks would house the bearing, and have a grease escape path to prevent excessive build-up and therefore tackle unnecessary heat generation.
"MAINTENANCE COSTS HAVE ALSO BEEN REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY, SAVING THE CUSTOMER AROUND £46K P.A."
The Result
Implementing the solution has resulted in no further bearing failures being recorded within the application, resulting in a dramatic reduction in downtime. Maintenance costs have also been reduced significantly, with the customer able to save around £46,000 per year. The assembly, alignment, and maintenance (when required) of the unit is quick and simple for engineers, representing a timesaving.