An unnamed Italian snack food company is savings €192,600 per annum on production and maintenance costs, since using NSK's AIP (asset improvement programme), according to the bearings specialist.
In particular, the plant has overcome a persistent problem of failures on fixed tail drum conveyor bearings, operating in a damp environment.
The company operates six production lines, and was experiencing the same issue throughout: bearing life of just six months. And with production costs running at €3,500/hr, this situation was unsustainable.
NSK says it investigated the application and proposed replacing the existing double-row ball bearings with its Molded-Oil spherical roller bearings, which use a solid lubricant proven to greatly improve the performance of machinery in environments exposed to humidity and contamination.
Since fitting of the new bearings, bearing life has increased to 15 months, allowing maintenance intervals to be extended, leading to major savings in production downtime costs, calculated at a considerable €192,600 annually.
In addition, the snack food manufacturer has eliminated costly regreasing operations.
