Company Announcement - SKF’s SSN 524 housing and seals meet the requirements of reduced costs and increased productivity for key customer, Weir Minerals. Weir Minerals is a specialist in the delivery and support of slurry equipment solutions including pumps, hydrocyclones, valves, screen machines and screen media, rubber and wear resistant linings. Committed to delivering end-to-end, market-leading products and services to customers operating within the global mining and minerals processing industry and power sector, the company relentlessly explores ways to minimise operational costs and maximise productivity.

Weir Minerals approached Bearing Services Alrode to find a solution to high costs and long delivery times on the housing and seals on their ash crusher unit. As an SKF authorised distributor with access to SKF’s extensive global pool of knowledge and expertise, Bearing Services Alrode consulted SKF South Africa for an engineering solution.

“We maintain a close partnership with our authorised distributors because they are our route to market, taking our core technology product and service solutions to the customers’ doorsteps,” says Ian Cillié, Managing Director of SKF South Africa.

SKF SSN 524 Housing & Seals

Cillié continues, “When Bearing Services Alrode presented us with Weir Minerals’ request, we scrutinised the customers’ requirements and presented a complete solution that included customisation, redesigning and project management. In short, we offered a total solution that delivered exactly what our customer wanted - reduction in cost and delivery for improved productivity.”

“Our solution,” explains Cillié, included a custom designed sealing arrangement for the ash crusher 300x300x181mm housing. We also shortened our delivery time which enabled Weir Minerals to place the housing into commissioning to meet their project schedule. In addition, quicker installation time of quality bearing units lead to a substantial improvement in production.”

“This project has enabled us to share our engineering knowledge with both our authorised distributor and our customer,” comments Cillié, adding that it has also strengthened the five year old customer relationship.

The success of SKF’s solution has secured a second order for the SSN 524 housing and seals from Weir Minerals. “We are now in the fortunate position to have a visible footprint in Weir Minerals’ projects and activities which enables us to understand the customer’s exact requirements for the delivery of optimum solutions,” concludes Cillié.