SKF has taken a strategic decision to shift its global business focus back to the company’s core strength – bearings. “Since 2007, we have been placing our energy into seals, lubrication, power transmission, mechatronics, condition monitoring and engineering service solutions to support our quality bearing range, and this we have done with great success,” says SKF services and solutions manager for southern Africa, Sarel Froneman. “But we may have been too successful, losing focus on what is fundamental to our rotating technology solutions, namely our bearings.”
CEO, Alrik Danielson believes that SKF must once again become the world’s number one bearing company. “Our mandate is to raise the profile of SKF bearings across all our product and services offerings,” he says. “Our bearing offering should remain our number one priority and common denominator of all our rotating technology products and services.”
Bearing remanufacture is another key function of SKF’s application engineering. “Our basic remanufacturing service can restore unused bearings that have passed their shelf life to ‘as new’ at about 15% of the cost of a replacement bearing. For bearings that have been in operation, we offer a full Level 4 remanufacturing service. Alongside substantial savings on cost compared to a new replacement unit, remanufacturing also offers the advantages of fast turnaround times and a reduced carbon footprint.”
SKF’s asset management services embrace maintenance solutions based on asset criticality and minimise the risk of failure by optimising equipment reliability for maximised uptime. This move underlines the new SKF Group vision – A World of Reliable Rotation – to deliver improved productivity and lowest possible ownership costs. Froneman says that it is not about selling as many bearings as possible. “Bottom line, by adding value through offering holistic rotating technology and service solutions, we build long-term customer partnerships,” he concludes.
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