Moulded Oil Bearings Reduce Food Processing Costs
NSK's bearing-substitution programme has produced large annual savings for a food processor operating a vegetable washer/polishing machine in harsh conditions with prevalent water, soil and grit. The food processor was encountering high failure rates on housed bearing units used on the vegetable washer, resulting in complete bearing changes every three months. To make matters worse, the failed bearings were also difficult to access: maintenance engineers struggled to remove them, which was often impossible without resorting to hand grinders.
What with all these problems, the cost of the failures was considerable: the yearly total for bearings, maintenance, engineering time and lost production amounting to EUR19,136 (GBP16,319) per year. NSK investigated the application and proposed replacing the existing bearings with its stainless-steel series of Molded Oil bearings. These bearings are designed to give high performance in water and dust-contaminated environments. They employ a special solid lubricant to transform the performance of machinery in environments exposed to high humidity, corrosion and contamination.
Molded Oil offers more than twice the operating life of grease lubrication in water-contaminated environments. The technology means that operating environments are kept free of grease, which is very important in food applications, and there is no need for refilling of lubricant, as Molded Oil provides a continuous supply of lubricating oil. A successful trial was conducted on the vegetable washer that found the Molded Oil bearings outperformed the previous housed bearings.
They are still operating after more than 12 months. The food processor is benefiting from not only improved reliability and consequent annual cost reduction, but also because a costly regreasing operation has now been eliminated. This represents an additional saving in labour and downtime, enabling the food processor to introduce a reduced and planned maintenance regime. New Free Publication for Food and Beverage Industry Comprehensive details of all NSK bearings for food and beverage applications are contained in a new 24-page publication. The free booklet provides a wealth of information regarding the choice of bearings for use in food and beverage applications.
What with all these problems, the cost of the failures was considerable: the yearly total for bearings, maintenance, engineering time and lost production amounting to EUR19,136 (GBP16,319) per year. NSK investigated the application and proposed replacing the existing bearings with its stainless-steel series of Molded Oil bearings. These bearings are designed to give high performance in water and dust-contaminated environments. They employ a special solid lubricant to transform the performance of machinery in environments exposed to high humidity, corrosion and contamination.
Molded Oil offers more than twice the operating life of grease lubrication in water-contaminated environments. The technology means that operating environments are kept free of grease, which is very important in food applications, and there is no need for refilling of lubricant, as Molded Oil provides a continuous supply of lubricating oil. A successful trial was conducted on the vegetable washer that found the Molded Oil bearings outperformed the previous housed bearings.
They are still operating after more than 12 months. The food processor is benefiting from not only improved reliability and consequent annual cost reduction, but also because a costly regreasing operation has now been eliminated. This represents an additional saving in labour and downtime, enabling the food processor to introduce a reduced and planned maintenance regime. New Free Publication for Food and Beverage Industry Comprehensive details of all NSK bearings for food and beverage applications are contained in a new 24-page publication. The free booklet provides a wealth of information regarding the choice of bearings for use in food and beverage applications.
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