Better choices, smoother automation

AUTOMATION IS essential in modern manufacturing, as a myriad of items once made by hand, from industrial components to sandwiches, is now produced on automated lines. 

While this helps to raise efficiency, every machine on the line is still only as reliable as the components that underpin it. During maintenance, these critical parts such as bearings and couplings are typically replaced like-for-like. However, choosing more wisely by, for example, switching them for superior equivalents, can have a dramatic effect on output, efficiency and lifetime.

Careful selection

Automation is a major investment. To make the most of it, machinery must be maintained intelligently, which typically means buying the best replacement parts. It’s not about blindly choosing the most expensive component, though, but selecting the correct one. Making the wrong choice can have knock-on effects, such as machine vibration, that negate any automation gains.

For instance, excessive clearance can allow some extra movement of the bearing. Sometimes you want this, sometimes you don’t. Understanding your own desired outcome, and the specifics of the application, is critical when selecting the most appropriate component.

A specialist distributor can help you identify the exact part for your needs, whether that’s repeatability, rotation speed or rigidity. At Acorn, we find that customers often choose a component – then ask for our opinion. Based on the specifics of the application, we may advise that they switch to a similar alternative. It’s our job to help them choose the right product. Being an authorised distributor, we have in-depth knowledge of all the products we’re selling. It means customers effectively deal with the manufacturer when they deal with us.

As a specialist distributor, Acorn offers ‘added’ services, such as ongoing consultancy, but our advice on part selection comes with the purchase. We want customers to find the exact part for their application – and our advanced technical knowledge can help them do that.

Part upgrades

Bearings and couplings are typically chosen based on their speed, load and torque ratings. However, many engineers don’t realise that the most modern parts have higher capabilities than their predecessors. These ‘uprated’ components can carry more load, for instance, in a smaller size. This means bearings can be downsized for the same job, resulting in a smaller shaft and housing.

Alternatively, an equivalent-sized uprated bearing would enjoy a longer lifetime, require less lubrication (as it’s working less hard) and deliver more uptime: Three sustainability advantages in one, and an obvious positive effect on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – a key metric for manufacturing firms.

Uprated bearings can also be used to raise performance. We’ve seen a growing trend within manufacturing for speed improvement as everybody wants to run their machines harder and faster. A machine may be 10 years old, but the owner now wants to squeeze more output from it. For instance, a food manufacturing firm making 1,000 sandwiches per minute on an automated line is under pressure to raise this by up to 40%. One option is to buy a new machine; the other is to retrofit uprated couplings and bearings. It’s about using clever selection to achieve a specific aim.

Premium brand

Bearings are a prime example of an uprated product. Every major bearing manufacturer now offers a premium or uprated brand, thanks to modern fabrication techniques and advanced materials. These are superior to products from, say, 10 or 15 years ago. The ‘old’ products, with the same familiar part numbers, are still made, still available and still being used. In many cases, they are exactly right and it is still routine for maintenance staff to specify an exact replacement when a part wears out.

However, an internal directive to raise performance or change the maintenance regime need not require a whole change of machinery. Instead, it can be achieved by switching to uprated components.

A key benefit of uprated components is seen in running accuracy. This is critical in applications like motors, which need bearings that run to the so-called P6 standard. These are not typically a standard product, so often need to be pre-ordered. Now, though, uprated bearings typically exceed P6 running accuracy. The P6 standard has essentially become irrelevant thanks to the advent of off-the-shelf, uprated products.

It's always easiest to replace a worn part with an exact replacement. But looking beyond this, considering alternatives, can prolong asset lifetime while raising performance, efficiency and accuracy.

Andy Fletcher is bearing and maintenance product manager at Acorn Industrial services

www.acorn-ind.co.uk