Components that reduce friction and enhance motion between objects are better known as Bearings. They are anti-friction components and are widely used in automobiles, gear boxes, heavy earth moving equipment’s and industrial or mechanical devices. The growth of the bearings as a product is related as much to the replacement market as much as it is directly with OEMs. Bearing industry being a capital intensive and technology sensitive segment, faces a lot of challenges in terms of application, life cycle, durability, competing with varying types, designs, etc. In our endeavor to understand the products offered by various companies we interviewed top bearing manufacturers in the country and deduced on not only the products offered, but also on technological advancements, materials used, emphasis on company’s testing and validation facility and their strategies to deploy their thoughtful innovations.
Current sentiments
The financial year 2016-17 had started of quite well and saw an upswing in aftermarket and OE sales. “Around the second quarter our exports began to gain momentum owing to some recovery in European and Latin America markets. But torrential rains in North and Central India really affected retail as most garages where closed due to floods and a lot of vehicle repair was differed. However, by December, after the shockwave of demonetization we have been posting month on month record sales figures. In a nutshell, this FY17 we are posting 14 per cent revenue growth over last year despite the macro economic turbulence of GST speculation and demonetization,” revealed Mr. Rohan Rathod, CEO, Delux Bearings.
Echoing Mr. Rathod’s sentiments, Mr. Miten Makwana, Director, Operations, RMP Bearings, said: “FY16 saw good growth for the medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M/HCVs) segment as volumes increased by 28 per cent led by reversal of mining bans, resumption of some stalled infrastructure projects, improvement in freight rates and overall operations of fleet operators. LCVs, after facing a heat in FY15 continued the tepid trend and was flat for the year. As a result, volumes for the overall CV industry grew by 12 per cent YoY.”
With the Modi Government in power, there are expectations of increased focus on reforms and ramp up in infrastructure. Thus, Government spending on infrastructure in roads and airports and higher GDP growth in the future will benefit the auto sector in general. This will further boost take-off for bearings. “We expect a slew of launches for Taper Roller Bearings and Clutch Release Bearings for both passenger cars and utility vehicles (UVs) given that the competition has intensified. The multi-year low interest rates and subdued petrol prices augurs well for the Indian auto sector. Historically, the demand for the PVs has been negatively correlated to the interest rates. Further, the 7th Pay Commission payout will also play out well for the auto industry in FY17,” remarked Mr. Miten Makwana.
Down the line
OEMs are under pressure to design & develop vehicles and subsystems which are reliable enough to minimize downtime and withstand heavy loading plus extreme operating conditions. In such a scenario, we found a lot of companies have emphasized on innovations, light-weighting and investments towards better quality and upgraded technologies. These have happened in each sub-segment in terms of aggregates like engines, transmissions, steering, etc. However, the base design of commercial vehicle wheel end systems has changed very little over the past 50 years. Current bearings for rear drive and trailer wheel end systems were designed between the 1920’s and the 1960’s and designs have essentially remained the same. “Over the same period, considerable gains have been made in bearing design, manufacturing capabilities and materials science. These gains allow for the opportunity to significantly increase bearing load capacity and improve efficiency. Government emissions regulations and the need for fuel efficiency improvements in truck fleets are driving the opportunity for redesigned wheel end systems. The USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – USA) standard requires up to 23 per cent reduction in emissions and fuel consumption by 2017 relative to the 2010 baseline for heavy-duty tractor combinations,” informed Mr. Makwana.
In the commercial vehicle space customers are now demanding that the product withstand double the kilometers at half the price. To achieve this companies are exploring geometries. By using various software, they try and modify requirements and test the reaction of different variables such as temperature, radial clearances, speeds and loads. Mr. Rathod, whose company adheres to such changes has an interesting take on the changing market trends and expectation of customers. He added: “Once the basic load capacities of the bearing are resolved we focus our attention to fine tuning grease properties and quantities. In the case of the new generation HCV clutch bearings we experimented with several lubrications and consulted tribologists and tested protos on our rigs before arriving at the final conclusion. FKM based rubber seals can withstand up to 200 deg. Celsius and though a bit pricier – it’s real value for money. The plastics in the bearings need to have thermal resistance too and heat capacities of the metallic and non-metallic parts of the bearing need to be calculated to study how the bearing will behave as a sub-system under thermal flux. Overall, it’s a really the attention to detail at the geometric and material science levels that make a difference.”
On a similar note, Mr. Dipen Makwana, MD, Texspin Bearings, said: “It is extremely challenging to handle different segments and areas of innovation around different product lines to create innovation. We continue to merge focus and innovations to come up with solutions that can help better the performance of vehicles.” Notably, there are different developments that are taking place to enhance the life cycle of the bearings. Internal geometries are improved, surface variations are improved and material science is becoming better and pure steel (better bearing steel) is used. “We import majority of raw materials and use pure bearing steel. We have a Government approved R and D facility which helps us conduct various experiments and come up with quality products. All these elements contribute in improving the performance of our products,” informed Mr. Vinesh Patel, MD, Orbit Bearings.
Clearly, a lot of companies have beefed up their infrastructure pertaining to design and validation, testing and has peaked focus on innovations. We bring you a special feature on bearings in an attempt to bring forward such good work from makers of the usually small but critical component and share valuable resources available within our reach.