The Sitation
A salad vegetable-processing facility was purchasing around one hundred identical stainless steel bearings every year. The bearing in question was only available with a considerable lead time from the manufacturer. This meant that the customer was forced into holding a significant volume of stock on-site, to provide enough cover in the event of a failure.
The Solution
A member of the team from the Hayley Manchester branch was called in to assess the bearings and assist the on-site engineers with a solution. The bearing was measured with an assessment of its various applications around the factory also conducted. These details were then cross-referenced by Hayley, and an RHP bearing was identified as a suitable alternative.
The recommendation was accepted, and the customer has now started swapping the bearings for the RHP model in a scheduled manner, following the factory’s preventative maintenance schedule.
The Result
The RHP bearing model is much more readily available on the UK market. As a result, the leadtime associated with sourcing replacement bearings has been dramatically reduced.
Hayley Manchester has agreed to maintain a stockholding of the customers’ RHP bearings, enabling same-day access to these critical components. This will help to prevent lost revenue caused by any unplanned downtime in future. Stock being held at the local Hayley branch has also meant the customer no longer needs to hold a large volume of bearings stock on-site, freeing up space for alternative uses.
A cost-saving has also been achieved with the RHP bearing costing the customer around £40 less per unit than the price they were previously paying.
