Located in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg in Austria, Hollitzer Baustoffwerke Betriebs-Gesellschaft mbH is part of the CEMEX Group. The Hollitzer quarry employs around 30 staff and specialises in crushed rock production for ready mixed concrete.
The quarry uses a combination of double and single platform circular vibrating screens to sieve the rocks prior to crushing. In the past, these vibrating screens have caused problems at the plant and have frequently had to be shut down due to bearing failure caused by insufficient bearing lubrication.
The latest vibrating screen was installed at the quarry in August 2006. After only a short time in operation, this machine suffered a bearing failure due to insufficient lubrication. The bearings support the screen arms, which have to perform heavy continuous oscillating movements. The screens must also withstand the very harsh, dusty conditions.
At this time, Hollitzer contacted FAG Industrial Services (F’IS), the maintenance and condition monitoring company within the Schaeffler Group, to recommend a course of action for the bearings. F’IS agreed to install an Motion Guard CONCEPT 6 automatic lubrication system on one of the vibrating screens at Hollitzer. This unit served as a six-month trial in order to prove the solution worked and the potential savings it would provide. The unit was mounted in a protective housing and filled with Arcanol MULTITOP grease in a 500cm3 canister.
At Hollitzer, the CONCEPT 6 trial demonstrated that significant time and cost savings could be made if the quarry installed lubricators on each vibrating screen. Prior to installing CONCEPT 6, bearing failures at the site averaged between four and six per year. Each bearing failure required a bearing replacement, shutting the plant down for one complete shift (10 hours). With a machine-hour rate of 2,000 Euros, a 10-hour bearing replacement cost the plant around 20,000 Euros. In addition to this, loss of production (approx 6,000-7,000 tonnes per day) was estimated at 70,000 Euros. This meant a total cost for one bearing failure was around 90,000 Euros. For an average of five bearing failures in one year, the total cost is 450,000 Euros per year.
Motion Guard CONCEPT 6 is an intelligent lubrication system, which can be used for either single or multi-point lubrication. The system can supply up to six different lubricating points with grease and can lubricate a wide range of bearings and applications including rolling bearings, plain bearings, drive chains, guides, conveyor chains and open gears. It can be used both indoors and out. It is fully automatic and maintenance-free thanks to constant re-lubrication. The system can be used in operating temperatures ranging from -20 to 60°C with a maximum counter pressure for each system of 25 bar for longer distances.
