Let’s use an example of a mining/cement operation to illustrate the value that bearings bring to production facilities.

Although not all the assets discussed may be all in manufacturing facilities, the concepts can be extended to many other industrial applications and the critical pieces of machinery used.

Conveyors in mine sites
At a mining and mineral processing conference on lifecycle management a couple years ago, a question was asked: which asset type gives the most problems? The survey indicated that 44 per cent of the respondents picked conveyors as their number one headache. Next in line was mobile equipment, scoring only 17 per cent.

Diving deeper, a review of an iron ore mine determined that the number one cause of conveyor pulley failure, causing the conveyor to be shut down for repair, was bearing damage. So clearly, the performance of bearings can be the critical component of a critical asset.

If we think about repairing machinery and how it affects an industrial facility, the number one cause of accidents in which workers were injured is machinery repair, followed by handing of supplies and materials, then the use of non-powered hand tools. All things related to machinery repair.