Improved uptime and guaranteed food safety – what more could you wish for?

Improved uptime and guaranteed food safety

What more could you wish for?

Gareth Pollard Product Manager, Bearings

With the importance of food safety practices continuing to grow, and food standards constantly changing, selecting the right products for your applications is becoming even more essential. And given the risks posed with public consumption the end of the line, food producers are having to make more conscious decisions about their processes to ensure that regulations are adhered to and quality is maintained.

Taking on these challenges is Timken, who have recently launched the new Poly-Round® Plain Bearing Housed Units, that have been specifically engineered with food safety at the core.

Designed to effectively safeguard against the harsh conditions often found in the food and beverage industry, these unique lubricationfree, hygienic bearings are USDA-accepted and meet NSF/ANSI/3-A SSI-141569-1-2014 requirements. Detect and reduce

Available in both stainless steel and blue thermoset housing variations, the optically detectable blue thermoset option makes its easy for producers to identify any foreign objects that may enter food production. The unique blueprint features a solid base, smooth surfaces, and laser markings, not only improving cleanability, but also helping to lower contamination risks by effectively utilising fewer components.

Specifically engineered with food safety at the core

Smart and hygienic

Compatible with a range of common food and beverage processing applications such as modular belt conveyors, horizontal mixtures, chillers, freezers and bottling machinery, Timken Poly-Round® are manufactured from corrosion-resistant materials, removing concerns associated with harsh washdown procedures. Thanks to the optional QuiKlean® housing

Compatible with a range of common food and beverage processing applications

design, dead volume between the housing base and machinery is avoided, allowing thorough washdown for all angles. The smooth housing surfaces are laser marked, facilitating the effective removal of residue, reducing washdown time and water volume. Adapt and improve

Offering a wide variety of polymer bearing materials and housing styles to fit your individual specification, Poly-Round® bearing housing units are dimensionally interchangeable with most industry-standard bearings. This level of interchangeability is a positive for food producers, instilling confidence and reducing concerns during the switching process. Improved productivity is also part of the Poly-Round® package. Eliminating the need for bearings to be regreased, downtime is minimised, freeing up engineer’s time to focus on more vital tasks.

Getting out of a pickle

Pickle processing is probably the last thing you’d associate with posing challenges to bearing performance. But it’s quite the opposite due to the constant and excessive exposure to corrosive brine. Experiencing constant bearing failures and lubrication issues in its modular conveyor system, a major pickle processor was frequently replacing their bearings, leading to heightened costs. Aiming to reduce spend and maintenance time, the company’s operators were looking to explore other avenues.

Following an investigation, Timken Service Engineers identified Poly-Round® bearings as an ideal replacement. Effectively combatting the corrosion problems and lubrication requirements, the highly corrosion-resistant Poly-Round® incorporates lubrication into its composition, assisting the pickle processor in eliminating downtime by minimising replacement and maintenance. To date, the customer has saved $40,000 and rising. Clucking for a resolution

To the annoyance of one major chicken processor, regular bearing replacement in its transfer conveyor was continuously grinding production to a halt. The heavy use of sanitising washdown cycles, which were necessary, meant that weekly regreasing and water purging was required. But even with such a frequent maintenance programme, the current bearings only provided 2-3 months of life before total replacement was required. A new solution was needed to avoid rising costs. Again, Timken Poly-Round® to the rescue. Designed to combat water ingress and eliminating the need for regreasing, installing Poly-Round® bearings extended lifecycles from 3 months to three years. Now that’s a serious improvement.

In addition, the minimal requirement for replacement and reduced maintenance procedures has saved the customer in excess of $130,000. Maintaining high standards of cleanliness and productivity are becoming harder to achieve, particularly in the food and beverage industry. But if you’re looking to improve both of these, with very little disruption to production, Timken’s Poly-Round® could well be the answer you’ve long been searching for.

Eliminating downtime by minimising replacement and maintenance