Success Story
Industry: Food & Beverage
Application: Cutter line
Cost Savings: € 134 478
Introduction
A major producer of snack foods was experiencing frequent failures of bearings on their cutter line. This was investigated by NSK and found to be caused by grease wash out following the line wash down process. Routine planned maintenance was carried out every 6 weeks which included changing the bearings to prevent unplanned stoppage. However failure did also occur before this maintenance was carried out resulting in loss of production. NSK engineers proposed to replace the current bearings with NSK Life-Lube housed units which achieved a vast improvement in the bearing lifetime resulting in the reduction of maintenance costs and lost production costs.
- Cutter line
- NSK Life-Lube with Molded-Oil bearings insert
Key Facts
- Cutter line application
- Bearing failure occurring due to wash down processes
- High maintenance costs and loss of production
- NSK solution: Life-Lube housed units
- Significant improvement in bearing lifetime
- Reduction of downtime, parts and maintenance labour
Value Proposals
- NSK reviewed the application following a process map survey of the site and discovered the issue of grease wash out
- A trial on one line using NSK Life-Lube product was proposed
- Trial bearings were fitted and monitored
- After one year the bearings were still performing well with no failures
- This success is now being transferred to the other two lines
Product Features
- PBT thermoplastic resin housing
- Molded Oil inserts (with solid lubricant)
- Martensitic stainless steel
- Nitrile rubber seals
- Available in NP, SF, SFT & ST equivalents
- Bore size 20mm - 40mm
- Corrosion resistance
- Paint free housings, preventing chipping & flaking
- Resistant to contamination increasing operating life
- Ideal for operations where fluid process is unavoidable
- No need for re-lubrication
Cost Saving Breakdown
| Before | Cost p.a. | NSK Solution | Cost p.a. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearing Costs: Costs of bearings across all three lines | € 5.512 | Bearing Costs: Costs of Life-Lube housing units across all three lines | € 1.571 | |
| Engineering Costs: 29 x 1,5 hours fitting costs; €72 per hour across all three lines | € 3.088 | Engineering Costs: 4,5 hours fitting costs at €72 per hour across all three lines | € 319 | |
| Costs of lost production: 2 x 2,5 hours lost production; €426 per minute across all three lines | € 127.768 | Costs of lost production: No costs of lost production | € 0 | |
| Total Costs | € 136 368 | € 1 890 | ||
Reference:SS-E-2061
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