1st Quarter 2013Electrical switching & drive systems & components
When a leading South African health food distributor experienced frequent break-downs on its potato peelers due to bearing contamination, SKF’s authorised distribution partner, Bearing Services Alrode, offered a solution.
The bearings were exposed to aggressive materials such as sand, grit, water and potato juices. To avoid unplanned downtime, the company altered the maintenance schedule to change the bearings every three weeks but this proved costly for the customer, with increased bearing replacement costs, downtime and stock holding.
The solution from Bearing Services Alrode was SKF maintenance-free composite housing Y-bearing units with stainless steel inserts. “The mean time between repair has increased the maintenance schedule from three weeks to over three months. There has been no bearing related unplanned downtime. This has translated into substantial cost savings for the customer,” says Patricia van der Hulst, SKF key accounts manager – food and beverage. “There has been an improvement in foreign body prevention which has eliminated dripping grease or purge contamination – bearings are filled with NSF H1 approved grease for the food industry – while reduced grease use is positive for the environment,” she adds.
SKF Y-bearings, available in a wide dimensional range are corrosion resistant under virtually all wash-down conditions and the solid or filled base design and smooth surface finish improves bacteria elimination. Sealing materials are FDA approved and the composite housings are a light grey colour for visual inspection so the correct cleaning procedures can take place.
“SKF can replicate this maintenance-free, cost saving solution for any similar application in the food and beverage processing industry,” concludes Van der Hulst.
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