Bearing in mind that 50% of all bearing failures are due to incorrect lubrication or contamination, SKF highly recommends that best practices, or at the very least, standard practices be followed when it comes to bearing fitment, removal and alignment methods. This will contribute to massive time and cost savings through extended machine life cycle, optimised plant availability, improved uptime and productivity. And there are environmental benefits too.
The cost of lubrication products (oil or grease) is regrettably often disregarded as they are categorised as consumable products together with cleaning equipment and fluids. Even a small plant can consume as much as 80 tons of grease per annum. On bigger plants lubrication spend can easily run into the millions and if correct lubrication methods are not followed, wastage and related costs remain undetected. So there is enormous potential for savings here by simply applying best practices and controlling grease consumption. Smart lubrication procurement and utilisation can significantly reduce costs; in some cases as much as 50%!
There is an incorrect assumption that a bearing must be filled with grease until clean grease is pushed out the other side of the unit. In other words a bearing must be full of grease to be properly lubricated. Unfortunately this method drives up costs in two ways – unnecessary grease wastage and seal damage.
Read the full press release here.
