MechChem Africa January 2018

⎪ Power transmission, bearings, bushes and seals ⎪

Plug-and-play bearing for condition monitoring

A multi-channel, complete plug-and-play solution for condition monitoring of equipment in industries such as cement, paper, steel, water management, machinery, and plant engineering, is available from FAG, distributed locally by Bearings International (BI).

T heFAGSmartQB isa ready-to-use, preconfigured conditionmonitor- ing system for electric motors, fans, compressors, and gearboxes. The system is ideal for industries such as cement, paper, steel, water management, machinery, and plant engineering. Commissioning takes a mere five min- utes, and requires no special skills or un- derstanding of vibration diagnosis. Clearly understood, plain text messages relating to the causes of any possible defects are generated on the touch-screen display when changes occur in the condition of the equipment, with the option of over 15 languages. The system allows for 24/7 monitor-

ing for maximum plant availability, and is preconfigured for the capture of various anomalies, withup to six sensors. Output of five error states is possible, namely: bear- ing damage, imbalance, friction/cavitation, temperature increases andbasic variations. Additional features include a livedisplay of current values, trend pattern and dam- age development, and an RJ45 Ethernet interface for service technicians, and static information regarding operating hours, defect frequency (yesterday/today/overall), maximumvalues, andmeanvalues since the last evaluation. FAG is a flagship brand for BI, which fo- cuses on top-quality products from leading internationalmanufacturers involved in the

inflow of input components to the delivery of the product to the end user. In addition, next-generation mobile infrastructure is combined with the manufacturing process, in order to enhance efficiency. “The new production unit will open up newpossibilities for us to reduce lead times and to improve flexibility and efficiency in our production,” says StenKarlsson, project manager for the new production unit. ParalleltotheinvestmentinGothenburg, similar investments are planned for Schweinfurt in Germany, Nilai in Malaysia and Flowery Branch in the USA. Over a million bearings per year are manufactured in the Gothenburg facility. The majority of these are exported. The products are used in heavy industry, such asmining, steelworks, papermachines, wind turbines, traingearboxes, fans andpumps. q “We recognise the constraints of high energy prices, low productivity, skills shortages, and a highly-competitive eco- nomic environment. BI and Schaeffler’s engineering and reliability divisions offer a highly-flexible rangeof predictive, planned, and breakdown maintenance services,” van Deventer adds. Engineering services include application design, evaluation, and optimisation. q industrial aftermarket, OEM, manufactur- ing, and mining sectors. “BI’s premium products offer our customers the best cost-to-performance ratio. Our customers can also count on leading technical support and service,” product manager, Coenie van Deventer, comments.

SKF enters the world of digital technology SKF’s operations in Sweden are set to be given a boost with the inauguration of a completely new, fully automated, digital productionprocess inGothenburg, adapted for themanufactureof spherical roller bear- ings. The new production unit is the first of its type to be put into operation within the SKF Group and is part of a programme of next generation manufacturing technology within the company. “The production flow is totally unique within thebearings industry, andconstitutes

a new manufacturing standard for us, which we will replicate into numerous facilities within the Group. The invest- ment programme is important for us if we are to utilise our manufacturing capacity even more efficiently, as well as increasing our global competitive- ness and the flexibility we can offer our customers,” says Luc Graux, director of manufacturing for the SKF Group. Using the help of digital technology, the entire value chain in the produc- tion process is connected, from the

SKF operations Gothenburg Sweden has inaugurated a fully automated digital production process for the manufacture of spherical roller bearings.

12 ¦ MechChem Africa • January 2018