SKF is designing products and exploring possibilities in additive manufacturing, to get to market faster & reliably.

Sumit Mitra

Director- Strategy, SKF India

What are the challenges faced by bearings manufacturers with regards to corrosion and wear and tear especially when the machines  exposed to extreme weather conditions?

Off-road construction machinery may work at low speed, but to raise productivity, reduced downtime and reliable operations is the key. Operators need to comply with strict environmental standards, control costs, and improve machine performance. All types of machinery, from wheel loaders to road rollers, must continue to work effectively under harsh operating conditions.

Bearings form a part of a larger system and for reliable functioning of equipment, it is important that the bearings also get sufficient and timely lubrication. SKF is among the select bearing manufacturers who also have the complete lubrication system portfolio and hence can offer a comprehensive solution for the challenging environment where these machines operate. Apart from bearings, we are also the global leaders in lubrication systems.

OEMs are constantly upgrading their products by adopting technology and AI/ML. What are the technological advancements achieved in the bearings segment?

Over the last few years, SKF has built significant capabilities in the AI and Analytics space. Utilizing AI-driven industrial analytics within a remote monitoring solution is key to monitoring equipment on a real-time basis and taking corrective actions early, planning safer repairs, specifically enabling repair teams to shut down assets and loop in experts as needed securely.

Using the cloud to upload data eliminates the need to build local expertise on complex technologies like condition monitoring. Engineers who are having access to the latest technologies and trends can remotely monitor the condition of the equipment and provide expert guidance. At our SKF REP Center in Pune, we remotely monitor hundreds of equipment of our customers in India across multiple industries. Strict confidentiality is maintained with the data of each customer. Current technologies enable us to create digital models of the equipment. By feeding these models the historical failure data and learning from the corrective actions being proposed by SKF engineers on the new issues, the AI is becoming more intelligent and can predict potential problems even quicker. More importantly, it ensures that no anomaly will be missed out when dealing with thousands of equipment.

What is your take on using 3D Printing technology in the space of the bearing? Some vendors are also incorporating sensor units to enhance performance, what is your view?

Additive manufacturing is an increasingly popular method of producing everything from aerospace components to human body parts. It is a great way to reduce lead time, reduce cost and improve efficiency. SKF globally is working to design products and fully explore the possibilities in additive manufacturing, to get to market faster and more reliably. We have defined three focus areas in its additive manufacturing activities.

The first is the tooling for production, where additive manufacturing is used to reduce tool cost and increase efficiency by reducing resetting time and scrap rate. 

The second is the redesign of some niche bearings for racing and aerospace applications, where the main objective is to reduce weight and improve performance.

The third is to use additive manufacturing to increase the number of remanufactured bearings, not only by removing material but also by adding material in damaged areas.

There are plenty of possibilities for additive manufacturing in SKF in the future. Right now, we are developing a lot of new products/sensors for condition monitoring, especially for the rotating equipment performance business model. And in that sense, we can use additive manufacturing not only for prototyping but also for series production. This enables us to go to market much faster, and we can let our customers test our products, get their feedback, and make modifications to create even better products.

How do you ensure monitoring of operations of your products and how is that helping OEMs in reducing downtime, cost, reducing lubrication consumption, etc?

We believe innovation is the key. At SKF we keep experimenting with challenges that lead to innovations.

One of the main causes of premature equipment failure is lubricant contamination. Up to 40% of maintenance costs are lubricant related. Lubrication management is not costly because of oil prices alone. The downtime associated with replacing oil – and disposing of it – is also expensive. The answer to this challenge is SKF Recon Oil. By combining our patented Double Separation Technology (DST) with high-performing SKF oil, we can extend the lifespan of the oil almost endlessly. The oil can be purified down to nano-level – with all original properties retained. And by regenerating the same oil – repeatedly – an uncompromised circular use is created. SKF strives in supporting our customers to further improve their operations. SKF fee and performance-based approach make it easy for you to continually benefit from the latest Industry 4.0 and IoT technologies without the need for significant upfront investment, as well as reducing your risks.

We are working on making our lubrication systems more digital and connected to the digital ecosystem. The largest single cause of bearings failure is lubrication; hence we cannot have a comprehensive digital reliability system for bearings where the lubrication data is not available digitally. Sustainability is an important aspect, and we are working on several innovations which help significantly reduce lubricant consumption.

We can take data from connected machinery with the help of sensors, portable or on-line data acquisition technology needed to monitor your critical, semi-critical plant assets. We Interpret this ‘big data’ using a combination of analysis tools including AI, ML, cloud-based, and remote diagnostic solutions. Review and share insights from the data in easy-to-understand dashboards – informing and advising when a problem arises, what it is, what to do about it, and how to resolve it. We provide operations and maintenance teams with corrective actions and recommendations to keep rotating assets running at the required performance levels, reducing risk and continually exploring the latest Industry 4.0 and IoT technologies, without the need for significant upfront investment.

We help our customers to move from the transactional purchasing of ‘technology and products’ to purchasing ‘Rotation as a Service’.

Have you witnessed any impact of Covid on this segment? Also, how do you see the market growth in the next 3 years and what would drive the growth?

While the construction system as a whole did go through a slowdown due to Covid 19, looking ahead we think that the segment would grow strongly driven by the government investment in infrastructure and the revival of the commercial and retail sectors. We expect significant capital investments across industries which will give a further impetus to the construction segment.

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