Warburtons cuts maintenance and downtime on lubricant-free bearings 27 August 2013

British baking firm Warburtons is reporting that it has reduced maintenance costs, minimised risk of product contamination and cut unscheduled downtime since installing SKF extreme-temperature Y-bearings (insert bearings).

Paul Moodey, engineering manager at Warburtons, says that MTBF (meantime between failure) has been extended from six months to three years with the bearings, which use a dry lubrication option that removes the need for high-temperature greases.

He explains that Warburtons wanted to increase efficiency on the ovens at its Enfield site, where oven unloaders transport trays of product on rollers throughout the day and temperatures range up to 120 degrees C or well over 200 C if unloader trays jam.

Despite frequent re-lubrication, Warburtons had been experiencing bearing failures, and automatic lubricators were not an option, as they would have been prone to frequent failure too.

Hence SKF's Y-bearings (VA228), which are fitted with a graphite cage that releases minute amounts of graphite powder to lubricate the bearing on low-speed, high-temperature applications.

"As well as cutting unscheduled maintenance to zero on the oven unloader, SKF Y-bearings provided a greaseless solution that removes the need for re-lubrication, which was previously a difficult maintenance activity," states Moodey.

"The new bearings eliminate the risk of product contamination by grease, are extremely reliable and offer a long service life, reducing standstills and lost production," he continues.

"We have now extended maintenance intervals from six months to three years and counting," he says, adding that savings in lubrication and maintenance amount to about £7,000 per year, while the total benefits of MTBF against costs are expected to deliver a return on investment of 200%.

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
SKF (UK) Ltd

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