Gb bearings

COMPANY PROFILE

2014

GB Bearings

+27 11 974 1291 | www.gbbearings.co.za

company profile

Keeping the wheels of expansion well oiled…

Editorial: Harriet Pattison Production: Hal Hutchison

Bearings, for hundreds of years, have been the vital component in just about every mechanical operation. With a new product line, facility expansions and exciting ventures in the USA, Durban’s GB Bearings has over five decades of unending growth in this increasingly challenging industry.

In every industry, bearings are the essential ‘cog in the system’ helping to ensure machines run smoothly and effectively. Without them, or if they falter, extreme pressures can leave the machinery with lasting detrimental effects so it is imperative for bearings to have longevity, quality and progressive designs.

Bearings have many mechanical uses but primarily, they aid in reducing friction between moving parts so the desired motion speed is achieved. Think of any mechanical operation, from motors, to inline skates to conveyor belts, bearings really do make the world go round smoothly.

There are many different variants of bearings with ball bearings the most widely known but these are used where the application load is smaller. For bigger operations, hydrodynamic bearings are more commonly used which work by floating the load on a self-renewing film of lubricant. This type of bearing relies on the speed of the journal, the part of the shaft resting on the liquid, to ensure the fluid is pressurised creating a wedge so the shaft is not in contact with the bearing material. For

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hydrodynamic lubrication to take place, the shaft must be rotating at an optimum speed.

Started in 1962 in Durban, GB Bearings was originally Glacier Bearings before it was incorporated into the Federal Mogul Group in 1999. Five years later in July 2004, the company had a management buyout and became known as GB Bearings. Today it manages over 180 staff with three large facilities operating in Johannesburg, Cape Town and with its head office in Durban. With an export stream now fully operational in all five major continents, IndustrySA speaks to Sales and Marketing Manager, Alan Parkinson about the incredible growth of a company which is going global.

“It started in 1962 in Durban and in 1975 the company opened another facility in Johannesburg. In 1988, we subsequently opened a small factory in Cape Town which gave us a national coverage of South Africa, serving the Southern African market in particular. We have rebuilt the brand name, very effectively, especially in Southern Africa and from that we have grown our export markets.

“Since we became GB bearings, we have put a lot of work and effort into promoting one of our products for

GB Bearings

export to the point where just over 20% of our turnover was attributed to exports. Those exports are all over the world, from the UK, Europe, Australia, Brazil and China.

China is one of our main export markets for our product at the moment.

“The principle market in Southern Africa is probably power generation, certainly with Eskom, our power producer, the mining industry and all the major manufacturers that supply these main industries such as Eskom, Howden, Sulzer, ABB and Actom” explains Parkinson, who joined GB Bearings over three decades ago in 1983 after enjoying a successful career as a Chief Engineer in the Merchant Navy and subsequently as Chief Commissioning Engineer for new ships at Dorbyl Marine, Durban.

GB Bearings deal primarily with hydrodynamic bearings, otherwise known as plain bearings. “The primary alloy is white metal which is mainly a tin based alloy with copper and antimony in it” Parkinson explains.

The HSR bearing assemblies, the company’s key product, has been going since the early 1980’s and is primarily used in large electric motors, large pumps

and large fans. “We have just formally introduced an extension to that range, the HSS horizontal bearing assembly. The primary function of these are for taking axial higher loads without the need of lubricating oil stations. For the standard assemblies, in certain applications, you need an external oil supply, but the idea of this new product is to, wherever possible, eliminate the use of these external lube oil stations” explains Parkinson.

Although there are many theories surrounding the first use of a bearing, from the Egyptians moving stone blocks on sledges with the runners lubricated with liquid thousands of years ago to Leonardo da Vinci sketching the use of ball bearings in his helicopter design back in the 1500’s, the basic principle of the hydrodynamic lubricant has been around for over 100 years. Of course, with the ever changing world of more advanced mechanisms and technology, has much changed in the development of the bearing?

“What has improved over that time is materials that can be used but the most improved development is the machining capability; how effectively we can machine bearings of this nature has certainly helped. We can

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company profile Ensuring the company stays ahead of an increasingly competitive game, Parkinson explains that while the principles of white metal bearings are relatively well known, GB Bearings has more specific process controls, developed over many years, which are kept “closely guarded”, helping to ensure longevity and quality, which is so heavily demanded across both local and export markets, is maintained.

“With our specifically designed products, we don’t have too much competition. Our major competition emanates mainly from Europe and China in particular.

In the local repair market, there’s lots of people who think they can do white metal bearings but it’s the level of quality and performance which we focus on rather than the fit for purpose concept, we look for a quality product which is going to perform on a long lasting basis” explains Parkinson.

After such a successful five decades, Parkinson explains the company is looking forward to an even brighter future: “We are looking to expand our export sales this current year, at least to 25% and even targeting 30% sales. Over the next few years, we will expand our penetration into the export market which will be focused on niche type markets, rather than high productivity units, coupled to that there will be some growth in our staff complement, the technical manufacture and repair from as small as 25mm in diameter up to 6,000mm in diameter,” explains Parkinson.

“All we can do is improve our process and control of our products to improve the lasting quality but the basic principle of plain bearings remains the same.

Moving forward in the future I can’t see too many major changes apart from product innovation in utilising the plain bearings, like we’ve done with HSS, it’s just an extension of an existing product which we hope will satisfy a certain part of the market and those are the challenges we face, identifying those needs in the marketplace and adapting our product to suit those needs.”

These improvements certainly seem to be working as the export market GB Bearings operate in is continually growing. “We have just come back from the USA and have now broken into that market with a couple of orders which have come in recently. That’s a major breakthrough for us in the American market, we believe there’s good opportunities there to expand our product so we’re quite excited about that. We now supply to Australasia, the Far East, Europe, South America and now North America which I think is quite an achievement” says Parkinson.

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GB Bearings abilities of our staff will be broadened and also, we’re looking to expand the facilities. We have a replacement program to replace old machines with new or more modern machines and that’s an ongoing process.”

Parkinson, who became the Sales and Marketing Manager in 2001 and was instrumental in the company’s transition from Glacier Bearings to GB Bearings, explains the important relationship between the staff and the company’s exponential growth in ensuring customer satisfaction. “I think it’s a commitment to identifying the needs of our customers, coupled to that we have a very stable workforce. We also do a lot of training courses on basic white metal bearings on how to look after their performance. We have always felt there’s a need for making people aware on how to look after their bearings. Since we became GB Bearings in July 2004, our turnover has grown three fold so I’m happy about that; the challenge is trying to maintain that growth in the current economic climate, both locally and globally.”

Further expansion plans are in the pipeline too, including expanding the company’s existing facilities by 50%. “This is not only to accommodate existing growth in our business but also looking to the future.

Over the coming years we will also adapt and adjust our production capacity to suit those requirements”

says Parkinson.

With over 30 years’ experience at GB Bearings, Parkinson is now looking to the future – training up the younger staff members and creating “a great foundation for that growth to continue.”

“The ironic part about it is if I knew then, when I was a chief engineer, to what I know now about bearings, I would’ve been a superstar!” laughs Parkinson, but despite this, he certainly hasn’t done too badly, no doubt leaving a legacy of enduring success and potential for GB Bearings.

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“Since we became GB Bearings in July 2004, our turnover has grown three fold so I’m happy about that; the challenge is trying to maintain that growth in the current economic climate, both locally and globally”

Quality Castings Our ferrous and non-ferrous foundry offers design, patternmaking, finishing, heat treatment and machining facilities for large and small castings in irons, steel, aluminium alloys and bronzes

Range of materials cast:

• • • • •

Cast Iron: all the grades that fall under the BS 1452 1977 specification 2) SG Iron: all the grades that tali under the SABS 936/937 1970 specification Cast steel: carbon steels (BS3tOO A1, A2 and A3) as welf a low alloy steels {BS 3100 A5, A6, AW1, AW2, AW3, BT1, BT2 etc) Bronze: most grades that fall under the BS 1400 specification Aluminium: LM4 and LM6

Castings up to five tons in SG and cast iron, four and half tons in steel, one and half tons in bronze and 500kg in aluminium

JOSEPH GRIEVESON (PTY) LTD

FERROUS & NON-FERROUS CASTINGS Established ms Tel: +27 31507 3640 | Fax: +27 31 500 2637 Visit our website www.josgrieveson.co.za

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