MechChem Africa October 2017

⎪ Power transmission, bearings, bushes and seals ⎪

SKF has recently created two innovative service packages for manufacturers and users of rotating equipment to help them to integrate technology, excel in their sectors and achieve business success. The company has also extended its gearbox manufacturing service, enhanced the quality of its dual fan housings and reduced turnaround times. New service packages for rotating equipment users

C ommenting on the company’s new offerings, Roberto Tommasi, product linemanager for industrial digitalisation and solutions at SKF, says that the SKF Premium programme has been set up to help SKF bearing customers identify their maintenance and operational needs towards reducing expenditure. The programme enables customers to adopt best maintenancepractices for their critical assets, resulting in machine reliability and uptime improvement. This SKF offering provides a free Client Needs Analysis and a free starter value pack of SKF Rotating Equipment Performance technology and services, subject to certain qualifying criteria. Further technology and services can also be added to the programme as required, offeredonafixed,monthly feeba- sis, removing the need for capital investment. The SKF Rotation For Life programme guarantees the reliability and availability of selected critical rotating machinery assets, reducing the total cost of ownership for the customer over an agreed contract period. This programme incorporates a wide range of SKF capabilities, customised within a package for the specific customer’s needs, whichmayinclude:bearingsupply;lubrication management; seals;machinehealthproducts; remote diagnostic services; and root cause failure analysis – and much more. Both the SKF Premium and SKF Rotation For Life offerings are designed to help SKF bearing customers develop their digital and IoT strategies without placing demands on restricted capital investment programmes. Drawing on its expertise in bearings, gears, seals and lubrication, at CONEXPO 2017, SKF demonstrated how its industrial gearbox remanufacturing service can deliver perfor- mance enhancements and extend the service life of obsolete or damaged gearboxes. The service covers: inspection and diagnosis at the customer’s site; removal to one of SKF’s accredited gearbox repair centres for recon- ditioning and/or upgrading; re-installation SKF’s gearbox remanufacturing service

Above: The SKF Rotation For Life programme guarantees the reliability and availability of selected critical rotating machinery assets through, for example, remote diagnostics via the SKF compact Multilog IMx-8 online condition monitoring system. Left: SKF’s value-added service offering ensured its OEM supplier status for companies such as South African truck manufacturer Henred Fruehauf.

SKF’s industrial gearbox remanufacturing service covers: inspection and diagnosis; reconditioning and/or upgrading; re-installation; commissioning; and vibration fingerprint acquisition for condition monitoring.

Rapid delivery secures more dual fan business SKF South Africa’s service capabilities and commitment were highlighted, when the company met a customer’s tight deadline for thedesignand supplyof eight fanhousings for anOEMcustomer, a global supplier of air and gas solutions, as part of a turbine application. Following the determination of the cus- tomer’s requirements, SKF’s engineering de- partment presented a proposal. Satisfied that all the application criteriaweremet, theorder was placed, including as a must, a very short timebeforedelivery.Nevertheless,SKFpulled out all the stops so that both deliveries to the customer were made on time,” according to SKF key account manager, Anneritha Maritz. The manufacture of the dual fan housings included a bearing housing, deep groove ball bearing (DGBB), end covers as well as seals and shaft fasteners. Impressedwithboth thequalityof thedual fan housings as well as the fast turnaround times, the customer ordered more units from SKF. q

at the customer’s site; commissioning; and vibration fingerprint acquisition for future condition monitoring implementation. SKF addresses the root causes rather than the symptoms of gearbox failures. Such an ap- proach prolongs unit life, improves reliability andsignificantlyreduceslifecyclecosts.Itmay alsodeliver a level of performancebetter than that of the original gearbox. From an environmental standpoint, re- manufacturing makes a lot of sense: It avoids problems associated with scrapping and materials recycling; means less energy to manufacture a new replacement unit thus saving considerable energy over its lifetime. A remanufactured gearbox is at least 40% less expensive than a new unit and can be delivered much more quickly – an important consideration for large, purpose-built indus- trial gearboxes. Says Davide Pandolfo, product line man- ager, driveline service and gearbox remanu- facturing at SKF: “Large industrial gearboxes are often driven hard and rarely get themain- tenance attention that they deserve.”

October 2017 • MechChem Africa ¦ 13