Bearing industry is witnessing changes in terms of materials, customised products and integration of sensors (IoT). With a strong push to electrical vehicles and demand for high quality bearings, manufacturers are working on bearings with minimal friction, boost in capabilities and heat tolerance. Technology is playing a significant role in bearing manufacturing to deliver varied range of components with innovative solutions, says Harsha Kadam, Managing Director and President Industrial Business, Schaeffler India. According to him, bearings - an integral part of almost every industrial application - offer tremendous growth potential in the future. In this interview with Rakesh Rao, Harsha Kadam highlights how bearing industry is banking on innovations to drive growth in the competitive marketplace.

 

Recently, Schaeffler India established new corporate headquarters in Pune. What is the significance of this move for the company, in general, and bearing business, in particular? 

Moving into a new corporate office had been on our agenda ever since we completed the merger of our three strong brands in India: LuK, INA and FAG. The move to our new office is another important milestone towards integrating and establishing one strong entity. Collaboration has and will play an important role in bringing about the ‘One Schaeffler’ culture. With our new office in Pune serving as the corporate headquarters for Schaeffler in India, the corporate and sales functions will now operate together as one organisation, as one team under one roof, enabling faster and efficient collaboration to serve our customers better, across all aspects of our business. Furthermore, the new office offers employees a modern work environment and promotes culture of collaboration and creativity and will serve a long way towards positioning ourselves as an Employer of Choice.

 

What is the advantage of being a global bearing company? 

In a constantly evolving technology landscape and ever-shortening innovation cycles, keeping up a good product line is imperative. Bearings are one of them and are an integral part of almost every industrial application. As a leading industrial supplier, at Schaeffler, our aim has always been to bring efficiency and cost savings to the bearing market by providing cost effective end-to-end solutions to our dealers and customers.

 

For us, the main aspects concerning bearings today are detailed optimisation, adjustments to meet customer needs and integration of bearings in efficient units in order to offer added value. Therefore, Schaeffler India is progressively emphasising on new technologies and R&D projects to manufacture application specific bearings to improve their efficiency. The key areas of our innovative range of bearing components are special material and different sealing. This will also evolve into innovation and digitization trends in the bearing business by quickening and scaling up the procedure from concept to operational delivery, thereby helping us meet customer value preposition. 

 

Which end-user industries are driving the demand for industrial bearings? 

We witnessed that end user industries associated with mining & metal remained to be the key drivers for demand this year led by the huge push on infra development of road, rail and ports by Government of India. Sectors associated with low CAPEX spend this year were however also the sectors that saw increased spending on MRO activities and accordingly replacement market led by distributors, retailers and end user was also one of the key markets that helped keep the industrial sales up.

 

The manufacturing plant in Vadodara (Gujarat) produces a vast range of ball bearings, cylindrical roller bearings, spherical roller bearing and wheel bearings and are sold under the brand name of FAG. The second plant at Savli produces next generation deep groove ball bearings and large size roller bearings also sold under the 

name of FAG.

 

How is industrial IoT (IIoT) transforming the face of bearing industry?

A massive transformation in the manufacturing sector has given way to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), resulting in the digitisation of the industry and inevitably penetrating into the bearings market. Innovations in bearing technology such as customisation and integration of sensing IoT are generating huge prospects for components and systems manufacturers. Energy efficient solutions, online monitoring of machines for the downtime and predictive maintenance counts are amongst the major disruptions within the industry. The adoption of IIoT-enabled smart bearing solutions which can self-diagnose impending faults and failures through regular condition monitoring will significantly improve bearing performance and reduce the replacement frequency.

 

IIoT focuses on installing sensors on the bearings that provide data that is sent to the cloud. The data can be synthesised which helps forecast the behaviour of the equipment. Data analytics and internet of things have a positive impact on businesses and Schaeffler has been specifically working to infuse technology drivers into products to be able to provide data that can add value to their customers. As such, Schaeffler’s Industry 4.0 solutions are customised to suit the respective applications in drive technology, logistics or machine tool digitalization. Schaeffler’s Smart Ecosystem 4.0 offers a comprehensive, cloud-based hardware and software infrastructure that includes every stage of digital added value – from components equipped with sensors through to digital services. 

 

Our systems and components are installed in machines at exactly the points where the most important data are generated. We continuously sense and monitor the data in terms of noises, vibration, temperature, etc. The information provided by these sensors is narrated to the owners of the function so that corrective action can be taken. Apart from prediction it helps in distinguishing the lifespan of the bearing that reduces the downtime for a manufacturing unit.

 

What are the emerging trends in bearing industry? 

Technology is playing a significant role in bearing manufacturing to deliver varied range of components with innovative solutions. We see new trends in terms of bearing materials such as graphite, ceramic, alloys such as chrome and stainless steel among others. These materials provide flexibility to users and manufacturers based on special applications. Companies are streamlining the raw material in harmony with the market necessity to work on the drive of weight reduction (inclining towards customers demand for more efficiency, reliability and safety). Furthermore, with a strong push to electrical vehicles and demand for high quality bearings, manufacturers are working on bearings with minimal friction, boost in capabilities and heat tolerance.

 

Schaeffler has always been the front runner in terms of understanding market trends and future technologies. For Schaeffler, the main aspects concerning bearings today are detailed optimisation, adjustments to meet customer needs and integration of bearings in efficient units in order to offer added value. Sustainability being at the core of our business, the drive is to reduce the weight of vehicles for more eco-friendliness, greater fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. We are working towards utilising the latest technologies to follow the changing norms and meet the market demands. We have developed bearings with lightweight steel alloys of different grade, alternate materials like ceramic etc. Apart from this, we have also developed special coatings on our bearings thereby improving performance of bearings. 

Our Industry 4.0 solutions are customised to suit the respective applications in drive technology, logistics or machine tool digitalization. Our patented sensorised bearings have different technologies for different applications. 

 

Overall, more and more efforts are being made to deliver comprehensive solutions integrating bearings with mating parts to serve additional functionalities. We are continuously emphasising on R&D projects to take advantage of the latest technology trends and develop application specific solutions to improve their overall efficiency. 

 

What are your growth plans for bearing business?

Schaeffler is competent player in both automotive as well as industrial segments. We are witnessing a slew of disruptions in the automotive sector led by governmental policies, IoT, changing business models, electric vehicles, etc. Although, the automotive market is in a downturn, we continue to focus on developing new products and solutions for the sector (including for e-mobility). 

 

On industrial side, our focus on quality will drive the growth. Bearing failure in industries come at a very high cost for our customers. While we understand that cost cutting is the prevalent trend in the industry, Schaeffler will continue to invest in high quality products for its growth. We understand that cost cutting drive do have a short-term benefit of better revenues but in the long-term the cost cutting strategy doesn’t prove to be successful for any of the stakeholder including the supplier, the customer and the end user. Schaeffler will remain committed to manufacturing and supplying high quality products as a part of its industrial growth strategy. 

 

Bearings are an integral part of almost every industrial application and offer tremendous growth potential in the future. As such, we will continue to tap the growth potential of India’s bearing industry and what it has to offer by expanding our capacities for product portfolio and engineering capabilities in the country in the coming years.