The food industry demands many prerequisites of its bearings, not least long service life, high-speed capability, hygienic operation and robust sealing technology. Without these attributes, food plants will incur higher maintenance costs and unscheduled production downtime, both of which impact upon bottom-line profitability. To overcome these issues, increasing numbers of vegetable processing facilities are identifying NSK’s Life-Lube^® series as the optimum bearing choice for demanding applications such as washing systems.

NSK’s Life-Lube^® bearing units are proving increasingly popular in the food and beverage industry, and with good reason. These advanced bearings combine the corrosion-resistant properties of Silver-Lube^® housings with the excellent sealing and lubricating properties of Molded-Oil inserts. Life-Lube^® units are specifically for use in sectors where contact with water and process fluids is unavoidable, and where excellent chemical resistance and long lubrication life are primary requirements. By taking advantage of the benefits available, food and beverage plants can tap into considerable savings from reduced downtime and maintenance costs.

Bearings that operate in conditions with a high degree of contamination must offer many attributes. A highly efficient sealing arrangement is priority number one. However, these bearings must also be cost-effective and provide easy, quick and convenient fitting and removal, including the capability to counter any misalignment during assembly. To help meet all of these demands, an increasing number of OEMs and manufacturing plants are finding the optimum solution in NSK’s Self-Lube^® bearing units with triple lip seal.

A leading UK bakery was experiencing regular, unexpected stoppages due to the premature failure of pillow-block ball-bearing mounted units fitted to the recirculation fan of a high-temperature oven. However, switching to NSK plummer blocks with high-capacity spherical roller bearings and labyrinth seals increased service life by a factor of 4.5, delivering annual cost savings of €34,907.

The NSK Verify mobile app has been upgraded to include the company’s range of general, giant and extra-giant bearings for industrial applications. When first launched, the NSK Verify bearing authentication app initially focused on the company’s super precision bearings, which are designed for use in machine tools. Extending the free app to further product lines will bring more efficient operations and IT-based plant management to wider industry.

NSK spherical roller bearings with TL technology are being increasingly adopted in the papermaking industry as more machinery manufacturers and paper mills seek to maximise operating life and uptime. The unique attributes of NSK’s TL (tough and long life) specification is proven to provide greater resistance to hoop stress, subsequently reducing inner ring fractures and delivering service life more than twice that of conventional bearings with standard heat treatment.

The popular and ever-expanding NSK academy – www.nskacademy.com – has added a new training module to its portfolio of courses. Aimed at increasing the knowledge of those involved in developing and specifying machinery for the food and beverage sector, the new module represents a comprehensive overview of all factors relating to bearing use in such applications. Like every training module available at NSK academy, those completing the course will be invited to answer a series of questions to test their knowledge. Participants attaining an 80% pass mark will receive a certificate in recognition of their achievement.

A leading UK manufacturer of soft drinks that was experiencing premature bearing failures on its automatic bottle sleeving machine, resolved the issue by adopting non-contact, shielded, greased-for-life deep groove ball bearings from NSK. The move has increased the operational life of the bearings by a factor of 52, which in turn is generating annual savings of €10,874.