A new mobile application (app) has been developed to simplify the process of mounting, installing and replacing bearings. The Bearing Assist app developed by SKF aims to reduce incorrect mounting, installation time and costs while increasing uptime and extending the operating life of bearings, to lower operating costs and total cost of ownership.

The app is said to be suitable for use by engineering, production and maintenance teams, providing detailed mounting instructions for a range of SKF bearings, product information such as bearing designation, bearing type (with visuals) and suffix descriptions, dimensions and illustrations as well as information such as clearance reduction, drive-up method calculations and even recommendations on correct lubrication.

The mounting instructions cover bearings with basic design that are included in the standard assortment and the detailed instructions aim to help maintenance and production engineers to improve bearing fitting techniques. Once a bearing has been mounted, the process can be recorded in the app together with useful information such as date, specific asset, location and work order, as well as details of which specific bearing has been mounted. Results can be exported as a PDF, helping to reduce the time needed to produce a mounting report.

Efficient logging of details helps improve maintenance collaboration and planning and overall asset reliability. In addition, Bearing Assist allows engineers to record work carried out, helping to improve the sharing of bearing knowledge across an organisation.

SKF product manager Linus Wahlterius concludes: “SKF Bearing Assist is a new mobile tool that enables quick, correct and easy mounting. It’s a tool that can turn new recruits into experts.”