(March 16, 2011)

SKF South Africa ensures that strategic stock is readily available to optimise uptime and streamline production for turnkey account customer, Osborn Engineered Products South Africa (Pty) Ltd.

With the non-negotiable requirement for uninterrupted, always on-line production, engineering product suppliers face enormous pressure, especially during breakdown situations, if their products are manufactured or sourced from overseas. Downtime costs in industries such as mining and mineral processing are measured by the minute and escalate exponentially in short periods of time. To receive long lead times on critical equipment over and above these costs is a damaging blow which puts strain on the customer's production and on the relationship between themselves and the supplier.

Given this challenging situation, SKF has developed long-term strategic alliances with original equipment manufacturers whereby we keep strategic stock locally of critical bearings with relatively long lead times to meet their delivery requirements for new and reconditioned equipment. The SKF Project Engineering Department offers custom designed, value adding solutions that yield superior performance, improved reliability and optimised service life of rotating mechanical equipment. SKF has designed and manufactured specialised engineering products locally in South Africa since the early 1960's and we are the original equipment manufacturer of many specialised engineering assemblies used in critical equipment in the mining segment.

The SKF Project Engineering department also offers a quality reconditioning service for worn or damaged bearing / housing assemblies. With the consultancy services and refurbishment operations all being locally executed, customers are spared the injury of long lead times due to logistics. In addition, the components which pass through the process are subjected to comprehensive quality assurance inspections to ensure conformance to the recommended SKF dimensional and geometric form tolerances.

This ensures that the performance requirements of all reconditioned equipment will be met when it is placed back into service at the end user.

The benefits of the SKF Project Engineering reconditioning service were duly noted by the leading crusher manufacturer, Osborn Engineered Products South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. SKF was determined to help Osborn maintain its position as a leading supplier of crushing equipment in the South African mining market. In order to realise this vision, Osborn require that bearings, housings and accessories for their machinery is readily available for equipment sent to them for repairs. After consulting with the SKF OEM / Project Engineering departments, an agreement was reached for SKF to hold strategic stock for Osborn at the SKF central warehouse in Witfield, Boksburg and to consider, whenever possible, the reconditioning of housings and accessories.

Reconditioned housings and accessories can be put back into service or held as spares at a considerably lower inventory cost to the end user. "The presence of SKF at Osborn has served to solidify our image as a solutions provider. When facing lead time or breakdown challenges, Osborn immediately consults with SKF and, working together, we are able to develop a solution based on the reconditioning model which is both cost-effective and time-saving," comments SKF Project Engineer, Vivashan Muthan.

Depending on the level of wear and the condition of the components, a reconditioning procedure is drawn up according to the applicable SKF specifications for the type of equipment concerned. Once the offer and proposed scope of supply are accepted by the OEM and / or end-user, the process is executed and the project is only closed once the final quality assurance assessments have been completed to confirm the suitability of the reconditioned components for the application. "A detailed report describing the application profile and engineering assessment of all components is provided to the customer. No detail is spared and SKF ensures that the dimensional, geometric form and surface finish specifications of reconditioned components conform to those of brand new SKF technology products," says Muthan.

Osborn has successfully deployed several reconditioned housing assemblies into the field and continues to utilise the SKF Project Engineering reconditioning service which is becoming more and more pertinent as the economic climate grows increasingly stringent. Rest assured, whatever challenges the future may hold, SKF will be at the forefront, ready and determined to ensure that their customers are equipped with and derive the full benefit of SKF Knowledge.

Other News:
SKF Reconditioned Crusher Bearing Assemblies
Boca Bearings Sponsored Mikey Bustamante Races His New Buggy
Goldwind Selects Broadwind to Supply Illinois Project Towers
Status of NSK Group following Northeast Japan Earthquake
Gibraltar Industries Announces Acquisition of D.S. Brown Company
RBC Bearings Incorporated (ROLL) - Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review - a new market research report on compa
Antidumping Duty Order on Japanese Ball Bearings to Sunset, Determines the U.S. International Trade Commission
Morgan Technical Ceramics is to Supply Precision Ceramic Pump Components for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles