CASE STUDY: ACORN Saves Biscuit Factory Production Line from Downtime Woes

Imagine this, you’re a national biscuit producer facing relentless downtime on your production line, where every 2 months operations come to a grinding halt, not only taking its toll on productivity, but eating into your bottom line. Struggling to pinpoint the root cause, you’re not sure where to turn.

This is where ACORN comes in. When a national biscuit producer contacted Bearing Product Manager, Andy Fletcher, they were at the end of their tether with the endless downtime happening on their production line. However, this didn’t deter Andy, who got straight to work finding a solution.

During a comprehensive overhaul of the production line, Andy stripped the troublesome roller applications, and conducted a detailed inspection, determined to improve their crumbling uptime. What he initially uncovered was a plethora of issues: mismatched bearing sizes, a mix of metric and imperial bearing designs and a range of bearing insert configurations. But it doesn’t end there. Upon closer inspection, Andy also found that atmospheric oil & mist was contaminating the bearings, wreaking havoc on their lubrication system. It was determined that the mix of all these issues was causing the cycle of downtime.

Determined to maximise the customers uptime, Andy offered a complete sealing solution designed to fortify the bearings against the atmospheric contaminants. By upgrading to 2RS seals on the deep groove ball bearings provided and plugging all grease nipples on bearing units, the customer should see a dramatic reduction in bearing contamination alongside an increase in uptime and machine productivity.

Fast forward to today, and the customer has enjoyed a staggering 3 years of uninterrupted operation, not only has this maximised efficiency, but the tangible benefits have been second-to-none saving an estimated £100,000.

The solution provided serves as a testament to ACORN’s unwavering commitment to saving customers precious time and money. Talk to our Product Managers to discuss how they can partner with you to get the most out of your machinery.