A customer was experiencing regular wheel bearing failure and loss of grease from the bearings in an automated crane application, within a product distribution centre. The customer had to change 40 wheel hub units over a 5 year period. NSK carried out a bearing failure analysis confirming that the wheel bearings were suffering from lubrication starvation and radial pre load. To overcome this, NSK recommended the use of pre-greased NSK Sealed Double Row Angular Contact Bearings with an increased radial internal clearance of C3. A trial of 8 wheels, using the modified crane wheel assemblies with NSK bearings, was carried out with no bearing failures reported over 12 months. The solution increased productivity and reduced maintenance costs resulting in a significant cost saving.
Before | Cost p.a. | NSK Solution | Cost p.a. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
OEM parts replacing 40 wheel hubs over 5 years | €26.880 | Replacement of 8 crane wheel hubs over 5 years | €6.000 | |
Loss of production: Cost incurred when crane fails | €30.000 | Loss in production: no failures |
€0 | |
Labour costs: Maintenance time | €10.000 | Labour costs: Maintenance time | €2.000 | |
NSK Engineering consultancy | €4.000 | Wheel hub modification, NSK bearings & Cost of machining | €4.704 | |
Total Costs | € 70 880 | € 12 704 |
Reference:SS-E-2051