SMART BEARING SOLUTIONS HELPING CONDITION MONITORING IS ANOTHER AREA OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT.

Harsha Kadam

MD & CEO – Schaeffler India & President, Industry division

In terms of construction machinery, which are exposed to extreme weather conditions, what are the challenges faced by bearings manufacturers with regards to corrosion or other such conditions?

Construction machinery often face harsh conditions that include heavy and high impact loads. Further the machinery is often used continuously for long hours by inexperience workers leading to poor handling of equipment. Therefore, the bearings in construction equipment are often exposed to dust, moisture, shocks, vibrations, misalignments, insufficient lubrication, and overloading.

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

The bearing manufacturers are consistently working towards new advancements and enhancements to address the issues of the smooth motion industry. Technology is playing a significant role in bearing manufacturing to deliver varied range of components with innovative solutions. Energy efficient solutions, online monitoring of machines for the downtime and predictive maintenance counts are amongst the major disruption within the industry. Smart bearing solutions helping condition monitoring is another area of technology development. With a strong push to electrical vehicles and demand for high quality bearings, manufacturers are working on bearings with minimal friction, boost in capabilities and heat tolerance.

What is your take on using 3D Printing technology in the bearings space? Some vendors are also incorporating sensor units to enhance performance, kindly elaborate.

3D printing also known as Additive Manufacturing (AM) is not a new trend at Schaeffler. Globally, we have been employing the additive technologies since the late 1990s. In the beginning, we did rapid prototyping. Since 2012, we have done more and more additive manufacturing of functional components. In 2015, the increasing importance of AM led us to introduce “AM Fab Shops”, and the team now promotes additive manufacturing of intelligent tools and functional prototypes for our customers’ uses. Though, in India the 3D Printing technology is at a nascent stage. However, it is just a matter of time when we will see its significant use.

Supply chain will be the most beneficial area after 3D printing gains prominence in mass production. There could be other multiple benefits as well such as, components will be produced in the home country instead of importing the same, production will be as per requirement which will reduce the inventories and improve time-to-market, number of SKU’s will go down which will improve the warehousing activities, etc.

Integration of additional functionalities with bearings through integration of surrounding components and sensors is gradually gaining popularity among various industry applications. Introduction of smart bearings whose conditions can be monitored constantly to predict faults prior to occurrence is being adopted to deliver unvarying higher quality, eliminate human errors, and lower the cost of production. More and more efforts are being made to provide comprehensive solutions, integrating bearings with mating parts to serve additional functionalities. Bearing industry is consistently working together with its customers to produce more effective, efficient, and lasting solutions at competitive costs.

Which are the technologies that the company is excited about? How do you ensure monitoring of operations of your products and how is that helping OEMs in reducing downtime, cost, reducing lubrication consumption etc.

In an ever-shortening innovation cycle, a good product line is very important to meet the global market trends. Bearings are one of them and are an integral part of almost every application. Likewise, innovations in bearing technology such as customization and integration of sensing IoT are generating huge prospects for the component manufacturers. Electro-mechanical features with detailed optimization are playing vital roles in improving the performance and reducing cost of products.

At Schaeffler, the key areas of innovative range of bearing components are special material and different sealing technologies for demanding applications. As a leading supplier, we are progressively emphasizing on R&D projects to manufacture application specific bearings to improve their efficiency. We anticipate proceeding to lead innovation and digitization trends in the bearing business by quickening and scaling up the procedure from concept to operational delivery.

In terms of operation monitoring, we use a lot of simulation techniques which helps us in estimating how a particular bearing is likely to survive and according to the assessment, then we are able to modify the components. So, here we are using a lot of software to pre-assess the survival rate of the bearing. As in when this is likely to fail and what we can do to improve this. So, for every new concept, we first do this on our simulation tools. Hence, we are able to reduce the cycle time and the final product when it is in the market or industry it is more reliable, and the success rate is very good. That is where the bearing construction not only just simply the material but also the finer aspects like profile dimensions clearances, gauge construction that is also in a way customized.

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

The Covid crisis was an unprecedented situation bringing economic activities to a standstill, disrupting global supply chains, and affecting lives and livelihoods of millions. We were also affected by the pandemic leading to 52 days of loss of production. However, the well-diversified nature of our business helped us to maximise opportunities and limit risks. At Schaeffler India, we adopted a proactive approach to navigate through these challenging times. Our focus remained on ensuring customer centricity while maintaining the highest level of transparency.

There are various factors which are driving growth. The government’s focus on infrastructure in the form of enhancing rail networks, increased demand for housing, impetus for indigenous manufacturing through Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India concept are fuelling growth in construction machine industry in India.

BOX

Initially, the bearings were used in bicycles.

Our company’s oldest or initial Bearings

The oldest bearing manufactured by Schaeffler was Ball bearings under the FAG brand and were known as FAG Kugelfischer. Schaeffler has also invented the cage guided needle roller bearing under INA brand.

It’s initial usage (where was your company’s First Bearings used :

Initially, the bearings were used in bicycles, before finding applications in industrial and automotive products.

Our company’s latest Bearings

Bearings have witnessed high levels of innovation and technological advancements. Additionally, the functionalities and applications of bearings are also evolving continuously. As a leading bearing manufacturer, we are innovating both in terms of materials by using ceramic, chrome, or steel as well as in functionalities by integrating advanced sensor units in products.

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