An animal feed producer in Malaysia operates several units of pellet press machines, with high utilisation rates. These pellet pressing machines require high quantities of high performance grease for rolling bearing lubrication. Both the bearings and grease are subjected to high loads, vibration and exposure from steam.
To ensure that the bearings are protected from damages due to lubrication starvation, they are re-lubricated at regular intervals of every five hours. The bearing life in the machines was less than forty days, notwithstanding the downtime and effort required to replace the bearings when a bearing is damaged. This affects the production output and incurs high costs for each downtime incident.
Their business objective is to look for a cost effective lubrication solution to improve the overall cost, reliability and productivity of the machines.
The solution provided by Klüber Lubrication was Klüberlub BE 41-402 BH due to its ability to:
- withstand high load of the press roll bearings
- maintain its lubrication properties at high temperatures, up to 120 ˚C
- protect the bearings and extend their life under the observed operating conditions and environment
Overall benefits and values:
- The high performance grease protects the bearings from damage due to its ability to withstand high load and temperatures, in a dusty environment.
- Longer bearing life span is achieved and resulted in lower maintenance cost.
- Production team is able to achieve their productivity targets due to reduced unplanned downtime.
The maintenance team was very satisfied with the solution provided. Since switching to Klüberlub BE 41-402 BH, their grease consumption has reduced by 10% and the bearing life span was extended to above forty days now. This cost effective solution fulfilled their expectations in many ways.