The Board of Directors of NSK Ltd. announced the promotion of Dr Ulrich Nass as Chief Executive Officer of NSK Europe Ltd. His appointment is effective since 1 October 2019. Dr Nass was also appointed Vice President of NSK Ltd. on the same date. Since taking over as Chief Operating Officer in February 2019, he has initiated the transformation of NSK Europe for the future.

NSK has developed its latest four-row tapered roller bearings for rolling mills to offer a number of class-leading performance and environmental benefits. The work roll bearings use newly developed, water-resistant grease that is fully sealed into the confines of the bearing. With the new bearings, service life is typically doubled in challenging conditions such as those where there is a high risk of water penetration. In addition, the sealed design means that grease consumption is far less than that exhibited by a conventional ‘open’ bearing, while the risk of contaminating the environment is greatly reduced.

NSK used the recent EMO 2019 exhibition to introduce its optimised RA series of recirculating roller bearing guides with enhanced sealing technology. RA linear roller guides are equipped with new V1 seals and an improved cover, thus helping to increase the service life and reliability of machine tools.

On 1 February 2019, Dr Ulrich Nass (52) assumed the position of Chief Operating Officer at NSK Europe. The appointment reflects the company’s ambition to build further on its growth trajectory in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

When an ore preparation plant began experiencing repeated bearing failures on an air recirculation fan, it turned to NSK for advice. As a makeshift countermeasure, the facility was applying compressed air cooling in an attempt to reduce elevated bearing running temperatures, so the requirement for an urgent long-term solution was clear to see.

Suffering from regular bearing failures on a feed conveyor at an animal feed production plant, the company’s maintenance team contacted NSK to see if the issue could be resolved. The investigations conducted by the expert team of specialists at NSK not only revealed the underlying cause of the problematic failures, but generated cost savings of over €13,000 for the plant, thanks largely to the elimination of machine downtime.

Monitoring the condition of bearings is not only a way to detect the need for their replacement, but a way to draw conclusions about the state of the entire machine or system. To illustrate the benefits of NSK’s Condition Monitoring Service (CMS), two practical examples highlight what can be offered to users of grinding machines.

When a UK-based electricity producer was experiencing frequent breakdowns due to bearing failures in two industrial fan units, the plant requested the services of NSK to propose and implement a suitable solution. After performing an application review as part of NSK’s AIP (Added Value Programme), a change of bearing and fixing arrangement led to significant cost savings.

Bearings are highly-stressed drive components which, over a period of time, become susceptible to wear. With this in mind, it is particularly important to include bearings when developing a maintenance plan, as this strategy will help extend the operating life of machinery or equipment.

The mounting of bearings is a practice that requires the correct knowledge and skills. Historically, this task has seen maintenance personnel make a certain amount of mistakes, which consequently have reduced the lifespan of bearings. Further factors compromising service life include a failure to keep the bearings clean, not respecting the recommended clearances between the bearing rings and the shaft, and failing to use professional mounting tools. However, according to global bearing manufacturer NSK, these errors can easily be avoided.