MRO CHALLENGES IN THE CRUSHER INDUSTRY

 In this episode, we dive deep into the heart of the crusher industry, uncovering essential maintenance strategies and expert insights that can save you time and money.

Learn from industry experts; Hassanein Alwan from Mineral Circles Bearings & Safdar Hashmi from Al Jaber Crushers & Quarries as they share their top tips for keeping your machinery running smoothly, avoiding costly downtime, and maximizing efficiency. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field, this episode is packed with valuable information you can't afford to miss. Tune in and take your crusher maintenance knowledge to the next level! 

For more info, Please visit our website: https://mcb.ae/

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to Wiki bearings, where we dive into the worlds of engineering excellence, from the automotive marvels to the industrial giants. Join us to explore the wonders that keeps the world in motion. My name is Hassan Alwan and I'm your host. Welcome to Wiki bearings, the show where we drive into the automotive and industrial engineering.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about The crusher and the challenges and the maintenance. I have a special guest with me, Safdar Hashimi, which is a, an experienced maintenance engineer for Algebra Crusher. Safdar, thank you for coming to the show. Thank you. Thank you for giving an opportunity. It's good to see you.

And, uh, it's an opportunity for us to talk about the crusher, the challenging environment of the crusher industry. Many of our audience are engineers, they're into bearings, into the power [00:01:00] transmission. Right, right. And they would like to, to hear more about you. So let's start a little bit telling us a little bit more about you, about your experience in this industry.

Okay. I'll introduce myself. I am Safidur Hashmi, plant engineer, Algebra, Crushers and Queries. Basically, I'm an instrumentation, electrical and instrumentation engineer, and I have started my career in 2014. With Algebra Leasing Services as a maintenance engineer. And from 2018 onwards, I am in charge for Crusher, Algebra, Crusher Sanctuary, which is in Qadra, Ras Al Khaimah.

So, so now you have six, seven years of experience. In the Crusher, I have six years in the Crusher business. Now, I know that you're, you're a fan of, uh, cricket. Right, right, right. So, do you play, do you watch, or? Uh, I used to. If I get time, then I'll play. Yes, obviously. Okay, and who's your [00:02:00] I usually am watching.

So, who's your, who's your Uh, favorite player? My favorite player. Now he's not in the field, but, uh, it is Soro Ganglia. Okay. He was our former captain in the team India. Now, what, why, why do you, why he's your favorite player? Actually, I like his, how he's playing his style of play. Yeah. I think I like, yeah.

You know. Um, last month I was invited to, it was an event by DP World Uhhuh . and um, um, you know, I'm, I'm not, uh, a frequent watcher of, uh, uh, of the sport, but you know, you, you know, the always, we know only the big, the big names and the right. And, uh, I had the opportunity to meet, uh, Achin car . Well, really?

Yes. And, uh, you know, it, he is a, an exceptional person. I don't know. You know him. You, why, why you asking like [00:03:00] that? If somebody into cricket, they should know about Achin. And if somebody from India of obviously Yes. You know, no. Like, uh, he's a legend. Yes, he is. I think. And, um. Even that I'm not into that sport, I grew up with a different sport and so on, but I find his topics are interesting and how he was explaining his journey into this sport and it's, uh, it's an experience.

He's a superman in cricket. So, okay, let's go, let's go back to our topic. If we look at. You have been working for Algebra quite for some time. What makes Algebra different? It's been 10 years now I'm working with Algebra. It's my 10th anniversary with Algebra now. Okay, okay. Because on 2014 May, I have started my journey with Algebra.

Okay, so it's already 10 years now. Yeah, it's 10 years now. Okay, congrats. May only. For me, Algebra, it's more into like a personal. [00:04:00] Okay. Because when I was one year old, my father joined Algebra. Wow. . Yeah. So in my life, everywhere Al-Jaber is Okay. Okay. Even my career also, I started with Al Jba, so it's great.

So, so how many years have your father worked for Java? When I was one year he started with Al jba. Now I am 34. So 33 years, years. He have experience with Al Jba still. He is working with Dejaba. So, so you grew up with, with Al Java. Yes, obviously. And, and, and your father's still working for the Still he is with Algebra.

Okay, wow. So Algebra is like, uh, when I was studying my study table, there was an emblem of Algebra. On my two wheeler, there was an emblem of Algebra. So Algebra is very special for me. Okay. And when I started my career, uh, there also I got many opportunities with Algebra. Hmm. I, I got many opportunity to learn.

I have many, got many opportunity to implement my ideas. Nice, nice. Not only my ideas, it's a teamwork, everyone's idea is there, but it's all our opportunities, right? I think it sounds, [00:05:00] it sounds fun to People need opportunities to explore the things. And excel in their work. Right. And I think, I think, uh, now that you have, uh, you are almost the, the second generation into, into the business.

Uh, and I think it's, it's always, it's always, we are both engineers, but we are all humans, right? Uh, right. Right. Okay. And I'm talking about, uh, humans and engineer. I, I used to collect my memory. Like when I was studying one of my professor, he was always used to sell it. Yeah. Uh, be, uh, human first, engineer next, it should be like that.

We are always humans and then engineers for sure. Now, if we look at the Algebra Crusher, can you give us a tour into that? Ah, yes, of course. Like, let's try to imagine how, how this Crusher plant looks like. Right, right, right. If we are going to Crusher, then it will start from the quarry operations. Okay. So, from there, the [00:06:00] quarry, twice in a week, we will have a blasting.

Okay. So that blasting, we will plan according to the size of our geocrusher increase. So it will be the blasted material, it will be, it should be like thousand mm width with thousand mm height. This should be the size. Okay. Then From the excavator, they will load it on the dumper truck. Dumper truck with a capacity around 40 to 45 tons.

So it will bring the material directly into our geocrasher. We have a Sandvik geocrasher. Almost all our plans, uh, machineries are from Sandvik Sweden. Okay, so it is, it is The top into, into the industry. Yes, yes, it is. Okay. And, uh, if you're coming to the Joe Crusher, it is CJ815, Sandvik CJ815. That is our primary Joe Crusher.

Okay. And we have one locomotive that's like a substitute. Okay. If there is any problem in the main kesher, then only we'll start that one is, is it the same capacity or, uh, no, actually it's a bit less [00:07:00] capacity. Smaller one. A smaller one. It'll have a capacity like, uh, 350 or 400 ton per hour. That's all.

But the sandwich one have a capacity of 800 ton per hour. Wow. Okay. So we'll feed the material to the Joe Crusher and Joe Crusher output. It'll be like zero to 300 m. That will be the main, the main Joe Crusher, the Joe Crusher output. Okay. And in between, uh, zero to 50 mm material, we will take as a product in the first stage.

Uh, then as a secondary crusher, we have Sandvik CS660. It is a quantum crusher with a capacity of 710 per hour. Then the tertiary crushing station, we have. Sandvik CH 660, two crushers we have. Both have a capacity of 400 and 4 hours. 350 to 400, that's, let's see, let's say like that. Then at the fourth stage, we have a crusher Okay.

With the capacity of a hundred per hour. Okay. And the [00:08:00] feed size of Sandwick CS six 60 will be zero to 300 ml? Yes. Then the output will be below 90. Hmm. Zero to 90 will be the output for that one. That, uh, zero to 90 will feed to CH six 60. Okay. And the output of CS six 60 will be below 22 or below 24 we can say Yeah.

As the settings will be below 20. 22, but material will be around up to 30 mm or like that. Then the fourth one, CH 440 have a CSS. We will keep it on seven mm. Okay. The final material, this is like, then the final state, there is VSI vertical shaft impact crusher. This machine will give the shape for the material.

It is crucial, the shape. This is where, where, where the final shape is. Right. The elongation, flakiness, those kind of things should be eliminated. Okay. Then only, uh, it will suitable for the project. Then for the screening, we have six [00:09:00] screens. Okay. All from Sandvik. Okay. So usually, who is your customers?

Mainly our material are used for asphalt. Asphalt. So asphalt. Okay. They are ourselves. All the, all the, so all the asphalts we, we, we are driving on is, is, is is your, your material. I wish to be like that. . Everyone should come with us. That only our sales will be better than, uh, our life will be better. No. So yeah.

As aspect material we are using mainly for the Aspen, uh, because our core is Gabriel. Yeah. Gabriel is suitable for asphalt. Okay. And if it's limestone, it'll go to the cement industry means, uh, depending on the raw material, right? Sure. So now that we have an idea about the plant, now we try to imagine, and we need to think, we are producing 6, 6 50, 10 per hour.

650. 650 10 per hour. And the minimum we are running 16 hour setting. So two shifts, two shifts, eight hours per wow. So we, we. And [00:10:00] if there is more market demand, then we will run maybe up to 20 hours. Wow. Great. Great. So around 10, 000 ton, we are producing a day. 10, 000 ton a day. So many, many times in a year.

Ah, many times in a year. Okay. Now, if, if we look at the, the power transmission and the tier and we are in this, uh, it must be a major part of the, so what are the main components that you would have. You, you need to check and you need maybe to replace on maybe a regular basis. A regular basis, we have to change like, uh, where place we have to change.

Okay. And on the, those where place will come on the shoots or in the crusher. Feeding area on the discharging area, those areas will be whereplace that we have to close monitor and, uh, in time we have to change those things, otherwise it'll damage our equipments. Sure. And uh, then if you're going to the screen area, the screen meshes that we have to check there is any a [00:11:00] problem we have to change or we maybe we have to repair.

Otherwise it'll also affect our production. It'll reduce the production. Sure. All right. And then what about bearing, belts, chains, seals? Yeah, those are also important things, but generally that's why I spoke about the plates. Bearing is also very important role it has. So? Bearing, lubrication, everything.

Now, do you change, do you change bearing every month, every year? No, no, no, no. Not like that. Every week? Not like that. Just to get an idea. For every bearing there will be lifespan for that bearing. Mm. So we are, we are, I'm not saying that we are, are, we are almost achieving that. Mm. But we are trying to get the maximum life of all parts.

For sure. Even the bearing also For sure. For, for, for that. We have to follow some certain of things. Okay. Uh, lubrication. That's most important thing. We have to look on the lubrication. So, so tell us a [00:12:00] little bit more about the lubrication. Lubrication means, uh. First, uh, manufacturer, they're suggesting a time interval to change the, uh, lubrication.

We have to follow that. We have to follow, uh, use the proper lubrication, which for, according to our application, we have to use the proper lubrication. Then we have to follow the instructions from them. Yeah, we are taking the case of corn crusher. Every 2, 000 hours, Sandvik is suggesting to change the lubrication.

We are not always waiting for 2, 000 hours. Sometimes maybe before also we have to change. So we have to monitor it. We have to monitor that. Is there any specific lubrication you are using for this corn? Uh, now we are using, uh, 330. Okay. EP 330. And how much you have to put? 400 liter for one crusher. 400 liter.

That's a lot of liquid. For the screen it is 5 [00:13:00] 50. Okay. 50 liters. Wow. That screen every 500 hours we have to change the Every 500. 500 hours. For the crusher it will be every 2, 000 hours. Okay. I think because of the vibration and so on. Exactly, exactly. Now, uh The screen itself, it's vibrating. It's vibrating.

The job is vibrate. That's it. And this is, I think, also puts a pressure on the mesh itself and all the components inside. Right, right. So everything there is on a daily impact all the time. Will be there. Will be there. Yes. Now, you were telling me about the importance of lubrication and so on. If we just try to, so you have a lots of shocks, vibration, uh, you, you would have a lots of impact caused by all the, the, the crashing and so on.

Now, if we look at the crasher industry, it's an everyday crashing and there is a lots of shocks, uh, vibration. And, and it's [00:14:00] part of, of the, obviously because we are crushing the storm. So, uh, there will be shocks and vibrations. Now, now how that has. A major impact on, on the machines. How do you take care of your, your machines the right way?

Manufacturers, they have designed their equipments to accommodate all this problems, means shorts and vibration, everything. They are having damper system or springs. Those are the, and they have suggesting the best part for those application, like a bearing. We have to use the right bearing for the right application.

There will be the same number, but there will be differences in the, uh, Suffix, in the clearance. There will be differences. For sure. Uh, the cage. Sometimes we are using the steel cage. Sometimes the brass cage. Sure. Or sometimes for the screen we have to use the C4 clearance. Yes. Or sometimes the special Like the example, so those things we have to take care, we have to [00:15:00] use the proper bearing and we have to follow the proper mounting techniques.

We have to check the clearances. We have to check the fits and tolerances. It should be in the limit. It should be on, it should be in the limit. We don't want to compromise on those things. Then lubrication. It has a key role. We have to look after the lubrication. If you are not giving proper lubrication, then there will be a failure.

So, so are you using just a standard lubrication nowadays or what types of lubrication do you use? Actually, when we have changed last time our geocache bearing, now from that point onwards on the geocache we are using special VIB grease. Okay, the vibration grease. Vibration grease. Okay, and do you, do you see there is an improvement?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because nowadays we are every day, twice in a day we are checking the temperature. Okay. So we can see minimum five degrees Celsius. This is, this is a very good thing. Right, right. Because in the summer days it's like temperature will be [00:16:00] like on the outside 70, 72. Before it was 80. It was running on the 80s temperature, right?

Now it is on the 70s temperature. For special grease, roll, good roll. No, of course, because, because I think, I think because of that vibration, if we just use maybe a normal grease, this, this vibration will push the grease away, the film. Right, right, exactly. And, and I think vibration grease. Uh, especially with this temperature, ambient temperature also very high.

Yes. And the machine is running 20 hours a day. So it will deplete very easily. Yes. And the problem is you are outdoor.

Yes. And in this, uh, heat and summer, you know, like, uh, it's, it's a, it's a tough environment to be in. Right, right. So when you, when you change to this, um, I think, uh, uh, identity vibration, Greece, you right. You saw a difference in, in, into the temperature. You saw a difference. Yes. Yes. There [00:17:00] is difference.

Okay. So for how long you have been using them now? Like how many months? No, one year, around 15 months we are using. Okay. And still working. Good. Now we talked about the production team wants you to produce as many, you know, run 24 hours as much as possible. And I know on the other side, the maintenance engineer wants time to have the maintenance.

And now that you are working two shifts, how do you schedule the maintenance with the challenge of, you know, you need time for maintenance, but you need also, you The highest productivity, right? So, so how do you balance this out? See, now we are running eight hours. Sometimes we are running a shift with 10 hours, means 20 hours.

How, how many hours remaining that only a few hours, four hours in a day. So, uh, it's all about the planning. You have to schedule everything. We have to see the things and, uh, according to that, we have to plan maybe two days [00:18:00] production. We will lose a one hour production for the maintenance, but it can accommodate.

But if you are not doing that work today. It will lose maybe two shifts or the entire 10, 000, 10, 000, 10 per day we are losing something. Sure. So it's all about scheduling. So you, so I, I guess it's all about planning it and then find the right time to do it. Right, then we have to keep our inventory also.

We have to keep all the spare parts ready or sometimes we have to keep all items ready. Now, now just for me to get an idea, like, so what time of the day usually you run the maintenance? Uh, our shift is starting from eight o'clock in the night up to four o'clock in the morning. Okay. Then the second shift will start from five o'clock up to one o'clock.

Then two to six is the maintenance time. Maybe till up to eight. Okay. Two to six. In the, in, in the afternoon? No, in the afternoon. [00:19:00] Okay. And, and this is the, so the daytime, our maintenance team, they will come and they will inspect the things and they will prepare everything for the evening. Yes. I understand.

Then the afternoon session, we'll do the main, we'll do the mainten and uh, and if there is any. Indicators it works. Then we will do it on weekends. Okay? We will postpone if, if, if possible. If possible, we'll postpone to the weekends, okay? Usually from Friday afternoon up to Saturday evening, we will have time.

Okay? So this is more of the longer maintenance requirement. Longer maintenance requirement. Those we will do on the weekends, and this is where you need. I think during the week to prepare all the parts that you need. On the weekends, we are all very busy on the weekends. That is the problem with that. The production, we cannot stop the production.

Okay. So for personally, for me, I will be very much busy on the weekends. Okay. Okay. Because most of them always used to complain, like why you are taking the off from morning itself. You are on telephone. Yes, sure. [00:20:00] No, of course. I mean, Like, if you cannot stop the production, then all the, all the no, we cannot compromise the production.

We have production targets also. So we have to achieve that now just to, you know, this, this environment is, is not only having the impact from. the vibration and the shocks. I think we, the dust is another player into this, into this environment. Everywhere it is dust, even in the office also. If you didn't clean the area, there will be dust of tomorrow.

So, so tell us what, what, how dust is, is, is playing a role and how do you prevent and how that is, can impact your production? We have dust suppression system, uh, like in the crusher, in the screen area, everywhere we have bag filters, which will collect the dust. Then we are using water sprinklers on the conveys [00:21:00] and near to the, shoot and feeder area, we are using water sprinklers, but still dust will be there.

And how do you minimize the impact on the, on the machines? Because dust can contaminate, the lubricant can contaminate the components. We have to take care about the parts, like seals, oil seal, everything we have to check. You have to replace if it's required. Do you see there, do you have a major problem because of the dust?

Ah, yes, obviously for our screens, especially on the screens if any o ring is damaged or if any Oil seal is damaged. It will reduce the oil quantity first of all Yeah, if we didn't notice it during the running time, it will reduce the oil quantity. So again, there will be a chance for failure, yeah Then contamination will occur.

This dust will go inside the it will mix up with the oil You And it will act like a grinding paste. It will heat the [00:22:00] bearing. It will heat everything. But how do you, do you predict this before it becomes a grinding paste? Because when it's a grinding paste, it's already too late. Right, right. Before that, we have to find it.

What a practice we are doing every week. Usually on the weekends, we will collect a small quantity of oil and uh, with an acrylics we will inspect it. Maybe it will change, the color will be changed into black so we can predict there will be contamination or we can check the thickness. If it's reduced much, then we have to change.

Before changing, we have to find what's the issue from where it's contaminated. Okay. Sometimes on the screens, there's a tube where the, uh, oil is sitting. Okay. Those tubes getting cracked because of the vibration and all. So, we have to find the, where, where is the problem or the seal of the o ring. The cause we have to find first.

Yes. Then we have to eliminate that. Then we have to change the [00:23:00] oil. Okay. Before getting too late. So, so, normally, in terms of lubrication, you're mainly using oils? Or you, there's some places where you're using greasing, oil? At present, we are using greases only some particular areas, like a plumber blocks, we are using.

Okay. Silly grease only those. Sure. And, uh, the crusher spider. Yeah. For the spider bushes, we are using grease. Okay. But everything else is running on oil. And is it like an auto? distribution of oil? Is it how, or is it like a closed circle of oil? It's a closed circle of oil. Okay. So this is why you, you inspect and then you have to Right, exactly.

And our crusher is automated. It is connected to an HMI. Okay. So during the operation, it is monitoring all the temperature, pressure, then kilowatt. All parameters are monitoring real time. Okay. And we will get the history also. So from there also, we'll get some indications. If the temperature is getting higher [00:24:00] than yesterday over two days, suddenly there is a spike of temperature, then we have to move.

So is it a real time monitoring system? Yes, it is a real time monitoring system. So what are the parameters you are able to measure? Temperature. Okay. Pressure. Pressure, uh, the cing time, how much pressure will be the, that's, it will be then the flow flow for that one. Also monitoring? Yes. It, it gives you an indicator how thick.

Yeah. Then the kilowatt of motor. Okay. That one also we can monitor. Okay. And then, uh, you, is it, is it something you, you monitor at the end of the day or is it on? It's a, no, actually it is an HMI, which is connect to the crasher. Okay. So the operator can see all those datas realtime. So if any, any spike, uh, me, I'll go a daily basis and I will check the history.

Okay? So if there is any problem, we can, uh, there will be some indications. Mm. According to that, uh, if you are talking about the temperature is increasing suddenly, all of a sudden, if temperature is increasing first, uh, I will tell my people that go and check [00:25:00] the oil retainer. Mm. So if any metal parts are there, mm-hmm, and something is happening inside.

So maybe some, maybe we have to remove, we have to open the crusher. So you said if the temperature is increasing, it's one indicator. Is there any other indicator that can, for example Sometime the crusher, uh, pressure will have a spike. Okay. What does that mean? Sometime, uh, the mandrel and concave, those are the wear parts inside the cone crusher.

Okay. Maybe, sometime what happens, if there is a crack in the mandrel, and the material will stick in between those. Okay. Okay. This will give a spike in pressure in the pressure and then and then you can if you monitor that you can you can you can be able to predict that this is this is right because of the experience sometime we can we can know there is a problem so I'll tell my people check that one check the mantle then they will just open the crusher there is an inspection though so they will see and [00:26:00] if that is a problem then we will change the mantle and concave okay And if there is any problem on the bearing, and the temperature is increasing, the pressure, then there will be noise.

If the bearing has a problem, then there will be noise. Usually it screams. But the problem is it's crashing. So we cannot distinguish the sound. So we have to stop those plant and we have to run each, each machine separately. That's what we are doing in the maintenance time. Now, of course, because of the sound of the crashing, it doesn't give you that.

We cannot distinguish that. Yes, sure, sure. Now, I think as engineers, we would like to prevent problems and find ways to build a longer span of life for our machinery and minimize the maintenance. Now, do you have any case studies or anything that you have recently done that gave you a different result than your daily results?

Ah, yes, yes. Many [00:27:00] cases are there. Let's take an example. On our corn crusher, CS660, once our mechanic, he was doing the inspection and he told me the gap between the seal and the collar is a bit increased. And, uh, suddenly he went and he checked the oil and he saw some contamination in the oil because the oil color was black.

So we were expecting some problem there because it will damage our bearing. Hmm. From that day onwards, I told them because it was on a Monday. So for the weekends, it's too long. We have to wait. Otherwise, if it's possible, we have to wait. So we were planning, planned accordingly, but what happened the second day itself, we have noticed Some noise from the crusher, especially from the pinion area.

Okay, then temperature was also increasing on that area We are using infrared thermometer to measure the temperature from outside. So temperature was also increasing It was reached around 85 normally it will be on [00:28:00] 60 or 65 like that. It was reached to 85 So we have to do something, right? So that day we have stopped the crusher and we have started the changing of this pinion assembly.

We had one set of, uh, pinion assembly ready. So during the maintenance time, it took only four to five hours and we have changed that assembly. Okay. Then now crusher is running okay. Okay. If we didn't change that one, time, then maybe we will lose one, one day production. Yes, of course. Then you will have, you will have a major, a major failure.

Right. Right. Because this would damage the whole bearing. This will, uh, damage everything. It will increase the temperature. And, uh, if the temperature is increased above a hundred, sometime it's happened, then it will be very difficult to remove all these parts. Yes. Then we have to wait minimum, maybe eight hours, 10 hours to cool down.

To cool down the machine. And only we can, yeah. [00:29:00] So that was a proactive case. Yeah, we did it. Great work. Great work. It's all about, uh, we have to inspect. We have to do the things on right time. Yeah. You're, you're the doctor for these machines. I like that. So you have always to look at the journal of this machine.

Otherwise, my babies will make problems. So you have to be a doctor. So always you have to put the thermometer and see if the machine having a fever, there is a problem to discover. Now, Looking at the inventory or looking at managing your components, you need, you need many components to be able to maintain, uh, the machines could be bearings, could be belts, chains, seals.

Lubricants, greases, and all of that. And at the time of maintenance, you will need the right components. How do you, how do you keep your stock? How do you maintain your stock? We have to find the major items, which is essential. The vital things. [00:30:00] If those items are not available, then the production will stop.

We have to find those items. This is what we are doing. And we are keeping all, Spares minimum one or sometimes two. Okay. Those items we will keep. For critical application. For critical application We will keep as a spare and in some cases Uh supplies like you. You will support us Sure We will from the, we are here to support.

Uh, no, um, you usually, usually I think some, some application are, are, are critical. How do you measure that? Okay. This is more critical. I have to keep stock on these items. Maybe I, I don't need to care. How do you decide, like, is it the consumption? Is it, The, the type of machine, uh, Now we have an history. We are running our pressure from 2009 onwards.

Actually, it is from 2003, but the new plan, it was installed on 2009. Yes. So we have an history. With that history, we [00:31:00] can find which materials are we are frequently using or which are the vital materials. So we have to find those items. And usually do you keep a stock of six months or three months? Like six months.

Okay. We will keep. Okay. So, and then you replenish these stocks when you start using it. Once we use, uh, one part, then immediately our team will start to look for, look for the Now, now I know, um, through our discussion before we, we entered to the podcast that, uh, you were telling me about, uh, a major, uh, change in some of your bearings that gave you a way longer Uh, lifetime for you?

Uh, we, headache is like that, uh, I think on, uh, during 2018 or 19. Okay. Uh, almost one particular screen we have used around 20 pairings. Per year? Per year. Wow. So, [00:32:00] your supplier must be very happy to supply many bearings. There comes the importance of technical support, obviously. Can you tell us more? Yeah, yeah.

Uh, because we, we had a problem like that. And, uh, we, we just buying the bearing and we are inserting. We are changing all the brands. But still, problem was, problem is, Is it on one side of the screen? Sometime one side, sometime the other side. It's repeating like that. Okay. Okay. Then, uh, once a player come with a technical team and they have given some important ideas, how we have to fit, how we have to install properly, how we have to check the housing, housing tolerance we have to check, fit and tolerances, and the shaft we have to check.

Those ideas. They have given properly when they came and they said, uh, it should be a loose fit on the shaft. Me, including me and our team, everyone was embarrassed. We said, no, no, no, it shouldn't be like that. It should be tight. You have to hit with hammer. We were thinking that [00:33:00] they are given a proper, uh, installation techniques and he, uh, he shown it is practically how we have to do.

Then he made it. To believe. Now that particular screen, two years, more than two years, it's running with the same bearing. So it had a problem, but it's not because of the bearing. Uh, one crack was inside the pipe and it caused further contamination. Okay. Then one bearing we have changed and another bearing we didn't change.

The housing we have changed because there was a crack in the housing. Okay. Okay. But that bearing still runs. So is it too much to say that this is an EF 800 NTN bearings?

I think, of course, I mean, like having the right partner to work with you on, on the application and, you know, to be able to give you that. That's why I told you technical support is very important because we are, maybe I am. expert in one thing, not in another [00:34:00] thing. Sure. We need your support for that. Of course.

And, and I think, and this is the, this is actually the difference between a distributor that have the know how that can give you that support and maybe, uh, explore a way to, to minimize, because of course I would love to sell you 20 bearings per year, but I don't think this is the most efficient way to do it.

Because for our skin, it was very difficult to mount. Both bearing. Yes. If there is a problem and we, if we are forced to change both bearing, it is very difficult to mount and in that case, when those technical support is there came. And they have given an idea. They have made, even though he made, they have made one particular tool to mount the bearing.

We have fabricated that one before it was taking around two to three hours to mount a bearing on both sides. It will take around six hours, more than six hours. And with that tools, we are now changing it half an hour. You will not believe me. So, [00:35:00] so now you can change the bearing faster, faster, faster, and then it's Much longer, much longer.

And, uh, there are. Teach me something like how to measure those things. So now we have the equipments, the instruments, the tools we are doing in a proper way. I think, I think, why I was mentioning this because this is was I think one of the success story we had together and This was a good, a good example of, uh, when, when the distributor and the manufacturer can, you know, engineers can work together to get, to get the things right.

Otherwise, it's always very interesting to do. Yes. A joint, a joint, a joint approach. And I think for our, uh, drive spindle, the pinion assembly also, we did some modifications with the support of, uh, bearings, uh, bearing expert. Yes. Yeah. Because, uh, our pinion assembly had a problem. [00:36:00] It was damaging the bearing.

Was damaging frequently. Okay. We have checked it. That was a special bearing. Okay. When I described those Problems to the technical expert of the bearing and they have suggested to use the normal bearing. Okay. This was much lesser than the special one, but what we have done, we have modified the housing.

Okay. According to the standard bearing. Hmm. That fits and tolerances. Now it's running perfect. And we have increased oil level by So the lubrication becomes better. Lubrication becomes better. And then I think the main was is to move from a special bearing to more standard bearing with a different housing.

Without an expert, we cannot do that. For sure. Yes. And I think this is the, I always think there is always the success story when, when the engineer from both the distribution, the manufacturer side and, and the [00:37:00] plant work together to bring, to bring a solution. And, and, and it's not, sometimes it's not about selling the bearing or the price of the bearing or that it's, It is.

I think it's a balance of all of all of that and having the right tool, if it's the induction heating or having the right lubrication, all of that, we need always an interesting thing to do to find the problem, to find the right solution. It's always interesting. We are at the end, as an engineer, we are solution providers.

We always think about, okay, how, how to make this better and how to, and and sometimes it is, it is, it is, uh, Each have their own experience from that field as an application engineer that would in the bearing business, they have that understanding and you in the maintenance of your and all of these knowledge of put together.

We can do some magic right? Exactly. Okay, now, if we look at, now you have worked for many years for, for, uh, [00:38:00] Algebra Crusher and, uh, you, I think you have built a vast experience to, what would you give an advice for Algebra Crusher? a maintenance engineer that is entering now to the, to any new crusher. This is maybe his first year into this.

Can you give him any advice? First, he will, he have to learn, he have to study what's going on there from the root itself. We have to learn about it. How, what is the application? Because I was, when I was doing Algebra Crusher inquiry, I was very brand new for that industry. First time I am seeing a crusher.

Before that, I am hear about crusher, but I never saw a crusher. So, it take time to learn the things, how we are doing. What we are doing, what is the application to understand the plant and the logic, how it will start, how it's crushing and where it's going. It take more time for me to learn those kinds of things.

So [00:39:00] first we have to learn everything from the root. We have to learn. Uh, that's, I mean, and then, and then hopefully we, then we have to follow what manufacturer is suggesting in my case. I am doing like that. If there is any problem, if there is a failure or a breakdown, first, I'll go to the office and I will take my technical literature and for the particular machine, I will open that one and I'll.

Start searching on the problems or the solutions. They are giving proper solution. If you are search, uh, if you are, if we have solved the, the manuals and, uh, exactly, exactly. We can, we can, we can get the, but, but you don't, we don't want to learn it every time. Yeah. With my experience, that's the way, if there is a problem, we have to open that one and we have to find the solution.

Then it'll be there in our, you know, we, we, we memory it'll be stored. Yeah. No, but, you know, we grow up with, with manuals, but the. The new engineers are growing up with iPads, so it's going to be another challenge. [00:40:00] We don't want to buy hard everything, for that we have storage devices. But we have to learn the things which we have to, we should do.

Now looking at the, the new, new generation, I mean, the IoT, the Internet of Things and, uh, Looking at, uh, vibration monitoring and nowadays, like, there is the concept of, um, connected bearings, which bearing, which can gives you indication or the, you know, vibration, what's happening, what we call them, the smart bearing are also entering to that, to, to the field.

It is an, many manufacturers are exploring. So instead of, so the, like, instead of, Um, just the machine giving you, but it's, it's, it's all, uh, the bearing can, can itself give you an indication of what's going inside and all these, uh, have you started exploring any of these? Do you do any, anything that is on that, on that new technology?

We should [00:41:00] add that, uh, yes, we, uh, we are open for that. Okay. Any new technology with, which can predict the problems, it will always support us as a maintenance engineer. It will support us to eliminate the problem. So we, yes, we are interested into that. So I think you can suggest something as a supplier, you can, I mean, I mean, we, we are, we are looking at these like predictive maintenance.

There is now tools that was not available maybe 10, 15 years ago. And this with, with using, with the internet of things, you can monitor artificial intelligence. Everything is yes. So, so there is, there is, there is now technologies that we are also. Uh, looking and exploring, of course, we would love to explore some of these ideas with you.

I think NTN have, uh, released something which is called the Smart Pairing as well. It is still, uh, on a concept base, which, which, which can kind of reveal, uh, a lot of data, lifetime, and [00:42:00] They, they have also absolute filters. If anything can reduce the downtime, anything can support the manpower, then we can look forward for that.

I, I, I think nowadays many manufacturer, most of the big boys, if it's SKF, NTN, Scheffler, all the big, the big player are all, all more or less working on utilizing the technology. And I think it is for we as, as a distributor, you as an end user, you know, we maybe should take the opportunity to explore. Now, um, it is, and I think it's an, we are entering an interesting era of, of, of the internet of things, which can add up, uh, help us to predict.

I mean, you, what you described in many of your examples is actually you're predicting some problem by the temperature, by the vibration, by money. Now I think with the help of sensor and everything, now we can do those things. Exactly. That we can integrate it with our system. Actually [00:43:00] now there, there is there some, I think Sandwick now they are doing something like that.

Yes. Last time when, uh, Sandwick engineer, he visited us and they have introduced something called sap, which is collected. It will connect the into, uh, real time internet device. Yes. And from that we can predict actually we, we, we, we. Our team and our engineers also looking at what solution we can provide our way.

Mm-Hmm. And we are exploring different technologies as well to see what would be the best and the most efficient and effective. Uh, all right, you the end, you need something that is simple to, to, to install. All right. Simple to use. And you can a bit more long term uhhuh. And, and, and this is, this is something.

And anything, it'll reduce the headache of a maintenance engineer. Yeah. So, so, so this is, we can, we can, we maybe have more chat about that after our podcast. I think, I think [00:44:00] we, it's obvious that the technology is entering our everyday life. There is no, no, I mean, from our cars to our machines and, and, and I think the future of.

of a lot of these technologies is coming to, uh, we want real time data. We want, uh, you don't want to know that, okay, six hours ago, the temperature spiked and you want, and I think it should be indicated the real time data and the history, and there should be some algorithm to. to analyze, analyze those data.

Actually, there is a, um, at least I know that, that, that SKF is having also a solution that is integrating AI into this. So it's analyzing vibration, heat, and so on, and, and integrating with an AI to predict. So this is also, there is some tools on that, but I think NTN have introduced an accelerometer, which can, through the vibration, gives you an indicator.

And all of them are actually [00:45:00] working on this. And I think we in the near future, uh, we'll be able From a screen in our offices, monitor what is going inside these machines and predict and plan the maintenance and in a better way. And I think this is something should be come like that then the because as a maintenance engineer now we are.

Exposing into the dust, we have to reduce that. Yes. We need technologies like that. No, I think definitely it's moving that, that, into that. And I think this is also, this will become more relevant with the younger generation entering the engineering field. And, you know, they, they're born out with iPads AI technology will replace us?

No, no, I don't, I don't think it's gonna replace It's just gonna give us the tools to do our job a bit more. I mean, at the end, you need, you need an engineer to, you know, to do Right. But I think we will have these tools that we will [00:46:00] Today, you are using a lot of things, more manual, to be able to get the indicator.

Now, I think the industry is moving to where monitoring, um, on, on a screen to know, because at the end, if you know, as you said, if you know that the temperature is increasing, it's an indicator. If you know there is an issue in the flow or the pressure, it's an indicator. And the more indicators you have and the more you analyze the history, you can suddenly get, uh, you know, uh, kind of an alarming, you know, change to, to, to the vibration, to the, and, and all, all, all of this, I think what we call them falls under the predictive maintenance.

And, and I think this is the future and actually it's now as well. A lots of industries are, are, are using some industry a bit more advanced in this, some industry it de it depending on the environment and so on. But I think it's definitely a field that we are interested in and I think you would be interested in, and I think we will see more, more of this [00:47:00] coming along.

Oh, obviously, obviously, yes. If we look at the, the, the crusher industry in general Mm-Hmm. . What would you look at it in maybe in the coming five years? What do you think would be the main, the main change that can have an impact? Or do you think there will be any change in there? There should be some changes.

There should be some changes. Manufacturers should do something for them because now the entire world is moving with the artificial intelligence and those kinds of things. We will also get some advantage of that. Safdar, it was fun to have you on the show. Uh, we enjoyed our discussion. I think, uh, it was our first time to, to be in the show and I hope it's not going to be, uh, not our last time.

And, uh, I know that our engineers and your engineers are always working together to come up with a solution. [00:48:00] Now that we are, uh, coming to the end of our podcast, any final words you would like to, to say? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Actually, uh, it was very informative and it's a good platform for me to share the things.

I also enjoyed much. I think you're also enjoyed much. Definitely. Um, so again, thank you, Safdar. It was lovely to have you. And, uh, for our audience and listener, if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe. And if you have any comments, email us at podcast@mcb.ae. And until next time, keep the world in motion.

Bye. And that wraps another episode of Wiki bearings. Don't forget to subscribe for more insight into the fascinating realm of engineering innovation. Until next time, keep spinning towards greatness.