Success Story
Industry: Food and Beverage
Application: Milk Bottle Conveyor
Cost Savings: $8,133
Introduction
A market leading milk processing and bottling plant was experiencing repeated bearing failures on 5 conveyor lines. They were changing bearings on a conveyor approximately every 16 weeks. This involved high maintenance costs and unwanted machine down time. NSK investigated the problem and found water was entering the bearings during the wash down process, causing the failures. A trial was agreed installing NSK Silver-Lube bearings with food grade grease. This solution resulted in an immediate improvement and significant increase in bearing life.
Key Facts
- Frequent bearing failures occuring approximately every 16 weeks on 5 conveyors
- Approximately 20 man hours needed to replace failed bearings
- Significant machine down time, 1 hour per bearing change
- NSK solution: Silver-Lube housed bearing units
- Significant increase in bearing life resulting in no failures over 5 years
- Productivity improvement
- Milk Bottling Conveyor
- NSK Silver-Lube
Value Proposals
- Following repeated and costly bearing failures the customer requested a solution to their problem on 5 Milk Bottling Line Conveyors
- After performing an Application Review it was discovered that water was getting into the bearings causing the corrosion.
- NSK recommended the customer to use Stainless Steel Silver-Lube bearings to eliminate the problem
- A trial was proposed and implemented on all 5 conveyor systems
- This resulted in a reduction of machine downtime and maintenance costs and a significant annual cost saving as bearing service life was extended to more than 5 years
Product Features
- PBT thermoplastic resin housing
- Martensitic stainless steel
- Nitrile rubber seals
- Available in Pillow Block, 2 and 4 bolt flanges and take-up unit housings
- Bore size 20mm – 40mm
- Corrosion resistance
- Paint free housings, preventing chipping & flaking
- Resistant to contamination increasing operating life
- Ideal for operations where process fluid is unavoidable
Cost Saving Breakdown
| Before | Cost p.a. | NSK Solution | Cost p.a. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearing replacement: | $2,991 | Bearing replacement: | $798 | |
| Maintenance: | $2.053 | Maintenance: | $531 | |
| Lost production: | $4,440 | Lost production: none | $0 | |
| Total Costs | $9,444 | $1,311 | ||
Reference:SS-E-2070
