Enviropeel Halves Bearing Replacement Costs For Building Products Company

The company employs more than 2,500 people, generating a revenue of more than $1.5 billion a year producing 1.5 million square feet of fiber-board products per day, more than enough for 750 average-size US family homes.

The slurry used for the product wreaks havoc on the thousands of bearings which the company uses in the manufacturing process. With some bearings experiencing failure in as little as two weeks, it is not surprising that engineers were seeking to find a solution to this expensive problem. As well as the slurry, paint sprayed onto the product as part of the manufacturing process also contaminates hundreds of bearings.

After contacting Enviropeel USA, a full scale trial application took place which showed that the Enviropeel protection performed brilliantly, with all bearings working perfectly for the duration of the test. Company engineers removed the Enviropeel to examine the bearings and were so happy with the results that they ordered more equipment, material and training to increase their Enviropeel application capacity.

In the short-term, the company’s reliability engineers have conservatively scheduled the bearing exchange and protection program at 50% of the original replacement rate, a savings of $73,000 a year. However, Enviropeel USA expects the savings to grow much higher as Enviropeel proves its worth. After all, Enviropeel has shown a greater than 500% increase in bearing lifetimes on other similar plants and we would expect the same here.

Based on data provided by the company, we expect the changeout rate to be no more than every six months, which is a savings of $113,100 a year. 

This reduces the overall bearing replacement cost by 74% to just $40,100 (historically costing approximately $153,200).