Schaeffler AG highlights its wide range of monitoring tools and other solutions at maintenance 2024, an annual industrial event in Dortmund, Germany. Particularly, the company highlights its comprehensive range of products, services, and solutions in the fields of mounting, condition monitoring, and bearing remanufacturing.

Moreover, the focus is on services for customers who wish to ensure the functional capability and increase the operating life of their bearings and machines.

“Maintenance teams face a variety of challenges in ensuring the smooth operation of their machines”, says Sebastian Mergler, Head of Product Marketing Schaeffler Lifetime Solutions.

Furthermore, Mergler added, “Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence are important tools for modern maintenance. (However), our customers still want to have a ‘real’ partner at their side. At maintenance, we are therefore showing our wide-ranging service portfolio and focusing on a combination of digital solutions and personal consultation. For example, our Virtual Fitter.”

New remote assembly service for maintenance work

Incorrect assembly and dismounting are the main causes of around ten to 20 percent of all bearing failures. Thus, accurate maintenance work is essential. For this reason, Schaeffler added the Virtual Fitter to its Mounting Service portfolio at the end of 2023. With the aid of augmented reality glasses, Schaeffler’s global experts can assist in the mounting of rolling bearings in real-time without the need to be on site.

If necessary, customers can decide whether they want to use the remote mounting service instead of on-site services and immediately receive AR glasses on loan, which they can wear during the inspection of their machine.

A Schaeffler mounting technician receives a comprehensive picture of the machine’s condition via a live stream. Hence, can give specific instructions and display important information in the customer’s field of view. The remote mounting service saves up to 50 percent of the costs compared to an on-site service and enables faster knowledge transfer to the customer.

ECO-Adapt solutions supplement OPTIME range

At its booth, Schaeffler is also presenting the ECO-Adapt product range, which allows customers to monitor their electric powertrain and its energy consumption. The company’s OPTIME condition monitoring enables predictive maintenance based on the signal analysis of vibration and temperature data.

In addition, the PredictAdapt provides condition-related information based on the analysis of electrical signals. In this way, Schaeffler has expanded its range of monitoring services to include electrical condition monitoring and minimized the risk of failure of electric components. Moreover, PowerAdapt also provides information about energy consumption, not only on rotating electrical machinery.

Sustainable, cost-effective maintenance through remanufacturing

The condition of rolling bearings has a significant influence on the entire production process. Condition monitoring solutions therefore play a central role. At the trade show booth, visitors can learn all about the services provided by Schaeffler experts in the field of condition monitoring. Particularly, from remote diagnosis to determining the cause of machine problems using various measurement methods directly on the machine and using endoscopes.

Visitors to the booth can also find out about the numerous advantages of bearing reconditioning through remanufacturing services. The remanufacturing of existing bearings allows CO₂ emissions to be reduced by up to 95 percent compared to new bearings as well as savings in terms of material and energy. At the same time, it enables a high degree of flexibility to be achieved through short delivery times.