Baby Leaf Harvester

A food processing company in the UK was regularly experiencing production downtime due to issues with its baby leaf harvester. Machine stoppages, lost production and repairs were resulting in annual costs of 126,600€.

Why is salad leaf harvesting standing still?

The harvester was subject to frequent bearing failures that resulted in a complete stoppage of production and spoilt crops.

NSK reviewed the application and working conditions

It was determined that premature bearing failures were occurring due to the ingress of dirt and water.

More salad leaf harvesting the following year

NSK recommended replacing the previous unsuitable bearings with highly durable Silver-Lube® mounted units. At the beginning of the next harvest season, the Silver-Lube® units with stainless steel bearings and improved flinger seal arrangement were installed. The dramatic reduction in bearing failures has led to increased machine uptime and a halving of lost production costs.