SKF’s Ahmedabad factory: the source of perfect bearings

July 22, 2014 4:29 pm

After a tour of SKF’s bearing manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Subhajit Roy writes about his understanding on what goes into making a perfect bearing
 Incepted in 1907, SKF has established itself as a global supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems and services. SKF entered the Indian market in 1923 and today provides automotive and industrial engineered solutions through its five technology-centric platforms: bearings and units, seals, mechatronics, lubrication solutions and services.
In India, having fully operational state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in Pune, Bangalore, and Haridwar; SKF is well-positioned to cater to the need of Indian market. However, in an aim to further strengthen its manufacturing footprint in domestic and Asian markets, SKF Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of AB SKF (SKF Group), has set up a plant in Ahmedabad in 2010. The plant manufactures medium to large size bearings of various types for heavy industrial segments such as power generation, renewable energy, construction, mining and material handling.
Green with a purposeSpread over 33 acres of land on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot highway, the Ahmedabad facility of SKF is the first bearing factory in India to be certified by LEED rating and the third SKF facility across the globe to attain a LEED certification.
Explaining the efficiency quotient of this facility Ajay Naik, Factory Manager, SKF Ahmedabad said, “The manufacturing facility is certified to ISO 14001 and OSHAS 18001. We are also expecting a certification for energy efficiency soon. The plant is designed to achieve atleast 23 per cent energy efficiency and 30 per cent reduction in water use.”
Maintaining global standard  The manufacturing process of bearings is not as simple as we presumed especially in the case of large size bearings! SKF uses highly sophisticated processes in manufacturing. SKF treats its rings in a highly automated sophisticated furnace with patented process that defines the highest level of quality. After the heat treatment, a series of tests are carried to ensure high quality and post which, the rings go through the grinding operations. This is where super finishing is done in fully control environment and checked for 100 per cent in CMM for dimensions and once passed, the components are assembled by highly skilled and trained engineers. To support this process the plant follows controlled environment for manufacturing. The plant also has state-of-the-art sophisticated automated furnace, high precision grinding machines, CMM for checking. The plant is equipped with metallurgy and metrology lab with latest equipment. However, the optimisation of real-time monitoring makes the plant highly efficient.
Today, Ahmedabad facility of SKF involves almost all crucial functions of a manufacturing unit that helps in achieving optimum localisation level to churn out affordable products. Strengthened with technologically advanced machines, quality skilled employees, and in-house QA & QC team, the facility is gradually becoming a global resource hub for SKF.

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