(December 6, 2010)
SKF's Lubrication Application Centre (LAC), an integral part of the SKF Solution Factory Africa, is equipped to offer complete lubrication solutions to diverse industry applications.
The SKF Solution Factory Africa in Witfield Johannesburg positions the company as the ultimate solutions provider for rotating equipment by integrating its knowledge and capabilities in its core technologies. SKF formally launched its Solutions Factory in July 2009 and the company continues to invest in additional equipment in order to deliver exceptional service and product support to customers. "The Solutions Factory has undoubtedly opened doors for the LAC," says Sarel Froneman, SKF's Manager of Lubrication Solutions. "The Solutions Factory concept combines technical innovation with business model innovation by offering complete solutions aimed at solving customers' underlying problems. This opens new markets and creates opportunities for us".
SKF has learnt through many years of experience that the biggest concern for its customers is the service life of bearings and as a result bearing quality has been a critical focus for most of them. "As demands on machinery outputs go up together with an ever increasing cost of service and maintenance, customers' awareness of healthy bearing operating conditions as an additional requirement is now steadily rising. Where we traditionally often only supplied replacement bearings to some customers, they now realise the value of and request that we supply them solutions that will prevent these failures from recurring or at least, stretch the durations between bearing replacements to longer more controllable intervals," elaborates Froneman. "Sufficient lubrication and often relubrication are critical to these solutions and pivotal to extending bearing service life. This positive mind shift is reflected in the fact that we are seeing strong day to day business growth as well as large scale projects".
SKF Lubrication is an SKF value offering that combines understanding of the bearing and bearing technology as well as the specific need of an application. So who better to provide the automated lubrication system than SKF who understands what lubrication solution is best suited for a particular application? Furthermore, when SKF decided to investigate lubrication as one of the core technologies to add value for customers, the company only considered market leaders in the lubrication systems industry. With the acquisition of two leading brands (Vogel and Safematic), SKF also acquired what is unquestionably the best lubrication technology in the world.
The SKF Lubrication Application Centre is an autonomous business unit within the SKF Solutions Factory. "We occupy our own building and we keep the lubrication stock on our premises as opposed to in the central SKF warehouse. There are good and valid reasons for doing so," explains Froneman. "Lube Solutions alone has 30,000 product lines while the SKF bearing portfolio also counts some 30 000 products. It was simply more practical to consolidate the lubrication stock under one roof and to use dedicated, trained and experienced technicians to do justice to this vital part of the SKF portfolio. We have organised our stock holding into a manageable area, our people understand and have the knowhow to work with the products and more to the point, they know how to read a lubrication designation".
Froneman continues, "As a Qualified Lubrication Application Centre within the SKF group, one of the most important benefits is that the LAC is allowed to do local production under the SKF name - a major benefit for us and our customers. It is far more time and cost effective as we can modify and build a local customised kit within a shorter time frame, without having to wait for one of our factories to specifically commission it. For instance, an automatic lubrication system for a well known brand excavator is not a complex solution and would be assembled in no time; we simply pull the drawing and do the Kit Preparation. A system for an unusual earth moving machine on the other hand might take our factory several days to commission. So we are able to inspect the machine and record measurements, design a solution incorporating standard components available locally, assemble the kit and supply to the customer within a far shorter time than a factory can do. Each job can be unique and the LAC has the Job Shop Capabilities to deliver solutions for very diverse lubrication applications, in accordance with requirements".
"Our lubrication specialists have 'inside information' - we have the bearings and seals "know-how" to be able to deliver a complete customised lubrication solution within the proposed time line", explains Froneman. "I believe in buying and using South African and as far as possible all fittings, brackets, pipe work, etc. are sourced locally. By supporting the local market, we give back to our community, we are part of developing skills and industry and our products are more competitive. While core products like pumps, distributor blocks, etc. will always be sourced from SKF's overseas factories, a large part of a lubrication solution consists of locally purchased components, installed by technicians from SKF's South African Lubrication Application Centre. So we have seen a most satisfying increase in the LAC's sales figures," concludes Froneman.
The SKF Solution Factory Africa established SKF as the ultimate solutions provider and SKF continues investing in equipment and staff training to ensure that every customer receives superior service and product support and that the company lives up to the SKF Group vision of 'Equipping the world with SKF knowledge'.
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