A major producer of snack foods was experiencing frequent bearing failures on their cutter line. NSK investigated and found that grease wash out following the line wash down process was a factor in the failures. Routine planned maintenance was carried out every 6 weeks which included changing the bearings to prevent unplanned stoppage. However, failures also occured before maintenance was carried out resulting in loss of production. NSK engineers proposed to replace the current bearings with NSK Life-Lube housed units. A vast improvement in the bearing life was realized resulting in the reduction of maintenance and lost production costs.
Before | Cost p.a. | NSK Solution | Cost p.a. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bearings costs for all three lines | $5,878 | Bearing costs of Life-Lube housing units used in all three lines | $1,675 | |
Maintenance: 29 x 1.5 hours fitting costs; $77/hr on all three lines | $3,350 | Maintenance: 4.5 hours fitting costs at $77/hr on all three lines | $340 | |
Lost production: 2 x 2.5 hours; $454 per minute on all three lines | $136,200 | Lost production: none | $0 | |
Total Costs | $140,137 | $2,015 |
Reference:SS-E-2061