DIGITAL MANUFACTURING
Bearings company gears up for a digital future
SKF's operations in Sweden are set to be given a boost with the inauguration of a completely new, fully-automated and digital production process in Gothenburg, adapted for the manufacture of spherical roller bearings. The new production unit is the first of its type to be put into operations within the SKF Group and is part of a programme of next generation manufacturing technology within the company. Andy Pye reports on the implications
D
igitalisation ismost apparent in the consumermarket, wheremusic downloads, online shopping and on- demand TV are hailed asmarvels of the digital age. Yet digitalisation is also having
a huge effect onmanufacturing. The enormous power of existing digital
technologies – such as smartphones –makes it easy to think that we have reached a pinnacle of performance.However, SKF directors believe we are only at the start of digitalisation within manufacturing. Every aspect of themanufacturing value chain can be enhanced by digitalisation. Some have already emerged, while others are still on the horizon. They expect that the ability to collect and manipulate vast amounts of digital information will catapultmanufacturing into the future. Over onemillion bearings a year aremade in the
Gothenburg factory, themajority of which are exported. They are used in heavy industry, such as mining, steelworks, papermachines, wind turbines, train gearboxes, fans and pumps. Now, using the help of digital technology, the
entire value chain in the production process is to be connected, fromthe inflow of components to the delivery of the bearing to the end user. In addition, the next generation ofmobile infrastructure is
Digital manufacturing affects the entire value chain and not just production at SKF
combined with themanufacturing process, in order to improve efficiency. “Further digitalisation of established technologies,
such as conditionmonitoring and smart sensors, could have a revolutionary effect onmanufacturing,” says Bernie van Leeuwen, director product management digitalisation at SKF. “SKF has beenmonitoring equipment remotely
for around 15 years now, and has around onemillion bearings connected to the Cloud. Data fromthemis gathered and interpreted daily, often with assistance fromour experts. The ability to handle this data leads to enhanced analytics – allowing SKF to earlier detect potential failures in rotating equipment that affect overall equipment reliability and to get a better understanding of critical product and system design requirements.” SKF has already developed platforms to help
customers gather and interpret data. For instance, the Enlight platformhelps operators visualise data froma variety of sources, using a smartphone or tablet. The “connectivity” of the data runs in all
directions, and can be used inmany ways. At its simplest, it connects a sensor to a remote diagnostics centre. But the data – on the health of a bearing, for instance – can be fed right back to the design stage, and used to help redesign a better product.
August 2017 /// Environmental Engineering /// 13
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