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As asset reliability collaborators within the industrial segment, SKF and AWS are taking scalability of condition monitoring and data analysis to a new level as well as collaborating on the next generation of SKF’s condition monitoring technologies.

Gothenburg, 26 April 2022: SKF and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company have announced a collaboration to reinvent the field of industrial machine reliability and predictive maintenance with a joint solution. The engagement will deliver an easy-to-use and easy-to-scale condition monitoring and analysis solution that makes the ability to collect and analyze data using machine learning technologies available to a wider range of applications and customers.

As a first step, SKF will combine its knowledge of rotating machinery and predictive maintenance with AWS’s Industrial AI servicesthat bring industrial expertise, AI and machine learning technologies together. The solution is comprised of sensors, gateways and a machine learning service that is easy to install, commission, and scale. SKF and AWS will also collaborate on the next generation of SKF’s data analysis platform.

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By adding this solution to its current portfolio of condition monitoring products, SKF can help large manufacturing sites increase the number of rotating assets in the end user’s predictive maintenance programs by several thousands. SKF’s solution will provide these sites with machine alerts and alarms, enabling smarter, better decision making, and more efficient maintenance planning and scheduling. The same solution can also be utilized by entry-level users and small to mid-sized manufacturers, making the ability to use AI-driven analysis available to a larger portion of the industrial market segment.

John Schmidt, President Industrial Region Americas of SKF, says: “The key to maximizing the business value of machine data lies in scale. With more condition monitoring tools available for a wider variety of their assets, end users will gain more insights leading them to improved machine performance.”

Vasi Philomin, Vice President of AI Services at AWS says: “AWS's engagement with SKF spotlights how machine learning technologies, combined with scalability of the AWS cloud and condition monitoring expertise, can come together to improve operational efficiencies for industrial customers. Together with SKF, we are excited to deliver scalable, easy-to-use industrial solutions that will accelerate the pace of operational innovation for industrial customers of all sizes.”

SKF’s mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence and wireless condition monitoring. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2021 were SEK 81,732 million and the number of employees was 42,602. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

Published in Technology News
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Company’s wide range of solutions designed for wind turbines help equipment manufacturers & aftermarket service providers meet fast-growing demand

SKF, a leading global manufacturer of bearings, sealing solutions, lubrication management, condition monitoring systems, and services, offers an extensive range of collaborative, problem-solving solutions for wind turbine applications globally. As part of the company’s commitment to environmental sustainability, SKF has invested for decades in developing solutions to establish wind energy as one of the foremost, viable and sustainable sources of electricity. Technology holds the key to achieving both reliability and sustainability, while increasing wind turbine availability, productivity and performance.

The wind energy sector in North America, and in the United States in particular, is experiencing unprecedented growth. The U.S. Department of Energy projects the amount of wind energy produced will almost double from 113 gigawatts (GW) today to 224 GW by 2030, with wind turbines present across 47 states, and currently close to 2,000 new wind turbines are being constructed each year.

With nearly 60,000 wind turbines currently in use in the United States, operators need their assets to remain operational for as long as possible, often in the most challenging conditions – extreme temperatures, offshore and remote locations. High cost of repairs and long lead times for replacement parts can combine to reduce the competitiveness of this clean, renewable energy source. That’s why SKF is partnering with leaders in the wind industry to help minimize the levelized cost of energy by improving turbine designs, increasing reliability and maximizing performance and availability – all while reducing unplanned maintenance and repairs.

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SKF solutions consist of an extensive range of products and solutions for wind turbine manufacturers, owner/operators and service providers, from the main shaft to the gearbox to the generator to pitch and yaw applications.  SKF’s global footprint is able to reliably meet customers’ needs for parts, expertise and service. In North America, the company manufactures parts for wind turbines at three locations -- Flowery Branch, GA and Sumter, SC in the United States; and Monterrey in Mexico.

Research and development is a strategic differentiator for SKF and requires the large-size bearings used in wind turbines to be tested in the real-time conditions they experience in the field. SKF, unlike its competitors, has the capability to do this at the Sven Wingquist Test Center in Schweinfurt, Germany. The Center can currently test bearings up to 6-meter Outer Diameter, which can power turbines rated up to 14 MW.

In addition, SKF is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to study the performance of wind turbine drivetrains under a variety of conditions in order to gain insights into the possible causes of wind turbine bearing failures. The main purpose of this partnership is to investigate the failure modes of both gearbox and main shaft bearings, with the aim of developing new, improved designs for greater reliability. More recently, NREL published a report on our work together sharing real-time operational loading conditions in order to extend the life of gearbox bearings. The data was collected in an operational wind turbine through the Joint Industry Megawatt Scale Gearbox Field Tests.

Some of the specialized SKF products and services developed for use in the wind turbine industry include:

”SKF has partnered with leading manufacturers, owner/operators and service providers to help optimize turbine performance and reliability since the industry was established. Our solutions help safely and effectively lower total cost of ownership and increase performance for everything that rotates inside the wind turbine,” said Kush Sodha, SKF’s Wind Industry Manager. “SKF is dedicated to collaborating with industry partners to engineer solutions that help wind energy continue to be a clean, reliable, sustainable and cost-competitive alternative to traditional sources of energy.”

Partnering to extend wind turbine service life

Remote condition monitoring is particularly suitable for the wind industry, as it allows turbine operators to assess the equipment while the turbine is producing energy. Gearboxes and main shaft bearings are critical components in wind turbines. Failure of these components can lead to lost revenue, high emergency repair costs and, ultimately, higher energy production costs.

In partnership with American Clean Power (ACP), SKF tackled two critical performance and reliability topics at the 2021 ACP Operations & Maintenance and Safety Virtual SummitService Optimization of the Wind Turbine Drivetrain through Digital Solutions focused on improving the cost of wind energy through digital solutions like condition monitoring and data analysis to make wind energy more competitive against fossil fuel energy. Premature Failures in Wind Turbine Main Shaft Bearings highlighted problem-solving upgrades designed to limit the risk of downtime and replacement, in addition to the importance of determining the root cause of bearing failures.

The ACP Operations & Maintenance and Safety Virtual Summit is where the industry connects to identify solutions in health and safety, operations and maintenance, workforce training and development, and quality assurance.

For more information on collaborative solutions for wind energy, please visit our wind energy microsite.

About SKF USA

SKF USA Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of SKF Group, a world leader in rolling bearings and related technologies including bearings, seals, lubricants, and condition monitoring systems. 

SKF's mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft, include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence, and wireless condition monitoring. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2021 were SEK 81 732 million and the number of employees was 42,602. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

Published in Green Industry
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Brammer Buck & Hickman, the UK’s leading supplier of industrial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services, has released a range of valuable resources on bearings aimed specifically at engineers operating in the food and drink sector; these include a webinar, a dedicated website section, a product brochure, a guide to the challenges faced in this sector, and several case studies.

In the food and drink industry, bearings are faced with some of the most demanding environments to be found, required to perform across a very wide range of temperatures, subject to frequent washdowns and guided by regulations that are becoming ever more stringent; and, of course, there are cost considerations. The choice of bearings therefore requires careful consideration. Brammer Buck & Hickman, which has extensive experience of working with some of the biggest names in the food and drink sector, has come together with bearings manufacturer SKF to produce a range of resources to assist food and drink producers improve the performance and service life of their bearings. 

A recorded webinar, hosted by Brammer Buck & Hickman and presented by SKF, is available on YouTube on the RubixTube channel. In under 40 minutes, the webinar examines the key issues that impact on bearings in the food & drink sector, with a focus on reducing risk when it comes to food safety. It also identifies bearings that are best suited to this industry and includes a preview of the latest products and technologies due to be released. 

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For those that prefer to digest information in a different format, Brammer Buck & Hickman has produced two new brochures. The first is a product brochure on SKF bearing solutions for the food & drink sector, which covers the Food Line Blue Range, Food Line Deep Groove ball bearings and SKF Fryer bearing technology. The brochure looks at the key attributes of these bearing units and how they could benefit your production process. The second PDF is a guide: ‘Top 3 Challenges in the Food & Drink Sector…and how to ensure your bearings meet them’. It looks in more detail at the issues surrounding safety, cost control and sustainability in the food and drinks processing sector. Just as importantly, it provides guidance on how to meet those challenges. Both brochures are available to download from the food & drink industry page on Brammer Buck & Hickman’s dedicated SKF bearings section on its website: uk.rubix.com/supplier/skf/foodandbeverage.

Case studies on real world usage of SKF bearings in the food and drink sector have also been produced.

Brammer Buck & Hickman is an SKF Authorised Distributor across Europe and has an in-depth knowledge of the manufacturer’s product range, along with early access to its latest technologies. 

Brammer Buck & Hickman is part of the Rubix group. With turnover of more than €2.3 billion in 2018, Rubix is Europe’s largest supplier of industrial maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products and services.  For more information, go to uk.rubix.com

About Brammer Buck & Hickman 

Brammer Buck & Hickman is the UK’s leading technical specialist distributor of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products, as well as supplying multiple value-added services. Branches across the breadth of the UK provide customers with quick and easy access to more than 5 million products, from bearings, power transmission and fluid power through to tools and health & safety products. This extensive product portfolio is underpinned by specialist engineering services as well as condition monitoring. At the heart of Brammer Buck & Hickman’s service is a commitment to providing customers with cost savings through:  

  • reducing total acquisition costs 
  • improving production efficiency
  • reducing working capital.

Brammer Buck & Hickman is part of the Rubix group, Europe’s largest supplier of industrial MRO products and services.  

Published in Food & Materials

SKF have just announced its commitment to have a supply chain with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“Having already made significant progress on our journey to reducing emissions from our own operations to net zero by 2030, we are today committing to an even more ambitious goal, spanning our full supply chain,” said Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO. “Reaching this goal will require major focus and commitment from our own operations, as well as from our suppliers, partners and customers.”

As milestones towards the new 2050 goal, SKF commits to reducing CO2 emissions in its supply chain by 45% by 2035 and 60% by 2040. In addition, SKF has pledged to source at least 40% of steel from carbon neutral steel plants by 2040 and reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2040. This will align with the Paris Climate Agreement to reach net zero global emissions by 2050 and limit global warming to 1.5°C (about 2.7°F).

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SKF has already taken an important step towards this goal by investing in more energy efficient manufacturing processes and requiring energy-intensive suppliers of steel and forgings to adopt the ISO 50001 standard for systematic energy management. 85% of all suppliers in scope now have this certification.

“SKF’s heritage lies in products that reduce friction and thereby enable a more sustainable industry. Achieving our new, wider ambitions will require new forms of collaboration. For our part, we are approaching the task with determination, experience and technological innovation,” continued Rickard Gustafson.

Progress within manufacturing and increased transparency
From 2022, the Group’s manufacturing site in Gothenburg, Sweden will become the third site to achieve net zero status. This will be achieved by utilizing green energy and investing in more energy efficient processes. The SKF sites that have already achieved this are Tudela, Spain, and Steyr, Austria.

As part of its commitment to transparency and collaboration, SKF joined the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTI) in July 2021. The Group is also advocating for change through its engagement in the SteelZero, RE100 and ResponsibleSteel initiatives.

SKF’s mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, while at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence and wireless condition monitoring. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2020 were SEK 74 852 million and the number of employees was 40,963. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

Published in Metals
Tagged under

The innovative Scottish technology developer, Orbital Marine Power (Orbital) will lead a pan-European consortium to deliver the €26.7m FORWARD-2030 project, set up to accelerate the commercial deployment of floating tidal energy, with SKF as a key partner.

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The project will see the installation of the next iteration of the Orbital turbine, integrated with a hydrogen production facility and battery storage at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. Project partners will design options for integrating largescale tidal power into future net zero energy systems, whilst developing environmental monitoring and marine spatial planning tools for large floating tidal arrays.

Orbital will act as project coordinator as well as lead technology developer for the FORWARD-2030 project.

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During the project, Orbital will advance the company’s pioneering floating tidal turbine design, with support from technical partner SKF, who will design and build an optimised fully integrated power train solution, designed for volume manufacture. The partners deliver several technical innovations targeting increased rated power, enhanced turbine performance and array integration solutions. These innovations will reduce the cost of Orbital’s sector-leading technology even further. The next generation turbine will be deployed at EMEC’s Fall of Warness site off Orkney, where the company has already installed the O2, the world’s most powerful floating turbine, this summer. Once installed next to the O2, the new turbine will be part of the world’s most powerful floating tidal array.

EMEC will host the demonstration, facilitate hydrogen production, deliver a comprehensive environmental monitoring programme, and develop a live environmental monitoring system and test programme. LABORELEC will assess large scale integration of tidal energy to the European energy system; develop a smart energy management system and an operational forecasting tool. The University of Edinburgh will deliver techno-economic analysis of tidal energy; and the MaREI Centre at University College Cork, will be responsible for addressing marine spatial planning issues for wide scale uptake of tidal energy.

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Michael Baumann, Business Development Manager, Marine and Ocean Energy at SKF said, “We are enthused and excited about the opportunities presented by the funding from the European Commission for this project. We are proud to be part of this exciting journey with Orbital, developing technology and providing integrated power train solutions for environmentally friendly tidal power. FORWARD 2030 will be a great steppingstone in demonstrating commercial and technical competitiveness of tidal energy and is ultimately set out to provide technology readiness for serial production.”  

Commenting on the contract, Oliver Wragg, Orbital’s Commercial Director said: 

“This endorsement of the Orbital technology by the European Commission is a huge vote of confidence in our capability to deliver commercially viable tidal energy. We now have a focused and highly experienced consortium dedicated to the delivery of tidal energy and committed to accelerating its future uptake. This alignment of interest sets FORWARD-2030 on course to have a meaningful impact as we build towards large scale commercially viable tidal energy projects.” 

SKF’s mission is to be the undisputed leader in the bearing business. We do this by offering solutions that reduce friction and CO2 emissions, whilst at the same time increasing machine uptime and performance. Our products and services around the rotating shaft, include bearings, seals, lubrication management, artificial intelligence and wireless condition monitoring. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2020 were SEK 74 852 million and the number of employees was 40,963. www.skf.com

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

Published in Power & water
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For the first time, SKF will be presenting its combined PEER and SKF branded solutions for the agriculture industry at AGRITECHNICA 2017.

2017 11 09 063208Since being acquired by SKF in 2008, PEER bearings, including agricultural bearings, insert and ball bearings, deep groove ball bearings and tapered roller bearings have been marketed separately from SKF’s existing product lines. 

Stefano Urso, Product Line and Segment Manager, SKF, says: “With a full assortment standard from SKF and complementary, customer-specific solutions from PEER, end-users can achieve the highest reliability, at the minimum ownership and operating cost.”

SKF will also be presenting its extended range of SKF Agri Hub units for seeding at AGRITECHNICA. SKF’s Agri Hub for seeding helps OEMs offer a more reliable and precise planter, at a lower cost. It also helps to meet the needs of farmers, who are looking for means of faster seeding, with the highest possible precision, at the lowest possible cost per hectare.

AGRITECHNICA is the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural machinery and equipment. The 2017 edition of the bi-annual event will take place on 12-18 November 2017 in Hannover, Germany. Visitors can see the SKF offering in Hall 15 at Stand D35. 

SKF is a leading global supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems, and services which include technical support, maintenance and reliability services, engineering consulting and training. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 17,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2016 were SEK 72 787 million and the number of employees was 44 868. www.skf.com   

® SKF is a registered trademark of the SKF Group.

Published in Uncategorised