6 MPR July/August 2013

news

0026-0657/13 ©2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

SKF lands lucrative contracts for bearingsSKF has signed a 10-year contract for around SEK900 million with Turbomeca, a division of France-based Safran. The contract includes the supply of bearings for the latestTurbomeca engine, Arrano.

“The bearings used within a helicopter engine are key components that contribute to reduced wear, increased longevity and overall engine performance,” said Stephane Le-Mounier, director ofSKF Aerospace. “SKF is proud to gain this business which is a clear sign of new confidence demonstrated by Turbomeca and will strengthen our partnership.”

The new Arrano 1 100 HP engine is designed to equip four- to six-ton helicopters. It will offer 10-15% lower fuel consumption, contributing to improved performance (range and payload) and reduced environmental footprint.

SKF has also received more than SEK30 million in new orders from the marine sector.

One of the orders is for bearings, together with a lubrication solution, for a specialist marine engineer-ing company. At the speci-fication and design stages of the asset life cycle, SKF is now providing a custom-designed slewing bearing to a customer in Singapore, which will substantially increase the mean time

between bearing failures.Once the machinery is up

and running, SKF provides solutions to minimise down-time and maximise produc-tivity. It achieves this in part by supplying condition monitoring products and services and has recently secured several orders for these solutions in the marine industry.

The company has also won a number of long-term con-tracts to provide companies in Latin America with serv-ices ranging from machine lubrication to condition monitoring.

One of these, a five-year contract worth SEK115 mil-lion, will see SKF deliver maintenance services to one of Brazil’s largest metal producers. As part of the performance-based contract, SKF will inspect and monitor the condition of its custom-ers’ machines to anticipate potential issues and prevent defects from occurring.

Another contract is a four-year lubrication service con-tract worth SEK55 million in Peru, where SKF will supply lubrication tools to one of the world’s biggest copper producers. SKF will plan, schedule, execute and man-age the lubrication of the customer’s mine equipment, including trucks, shovels and drills, and also its con-centrator plant equipment, including conveyor belts, crushers, ball mills, etc.

In Chile, SKF has signed a SEK34 million technology contract for a major copper producer. The project will focus on monitoring the condition of the customer’s critical mining equipment in its concentrator and roasting plant.

SKF has received more than SEK30 million in new orders from the

marine sector.

GKN Sinter Metals plans Ohio expansionGKN Sinter Metals is to invest US$10 million in expanding its Gallipolis production facility in Gallia County, Ohio.

According to Matt Daniels, manager of the plant in Gallipolis, Ohio, the project is expected to

add 50 full-time jobs and generate up to US$20 mil-lion in additional sales for GKN over the next two to three years.

GKN’s expansion will include the installation of a new 750 metric-ton, powder-compaction press

along with other capi-tal equipment to launch production of differential-gear components developed at the plant.

The 175,000 ft2 facility currently has more than 160 employees and pro-duces gears, clutch pressure

plates and torque-converter components for a vari-ety of customers, including Chrysler, General Motors, EXEDY, LuK USA and Allison Transmission. Production of the new components is expected to begin during the second half of 2013.

Bodycote awarded gear improvement project Bodycote Mexico has been contracted to improve a range of transmission gears by a major OEM using heat treatment and surface enhancement processes.

The gears include sun

gears, pinion gears and annulus gears.Bodycote will use various surface technolo-gies to improve their per-formance, icluding low pres-sure vacuum carburising with high-speed gas quenching,

partial pressure nitride and precision shot peening.

A measurement labora-tory will be used to quantify dimensional movement dur-ing process development and long-term production.

MPR0413_News 6 29-07-13 11:22:17