Revolvo pulls out all the stops for a South Wales based aluminium mill refurbishment project, cutting a previously quoted delivery time for 960mm diameter cylindrical roller bearings by more than 50%
Novelis is a leader in aluminium rolling and can recycling. A relatively new company, it was formed at the beginning of 2005 after all the rolled product activities of Alcan were spun off and grouped together as a newly established business.
Bearing specialist, Revolvo recently helped Novelis to meet its deadline to complete a major aluminium mill refurbishment project at the latter's Castle Works site in Rogerstone, South Wales. The project was initially under threat, due to extended 18-24 month deliveries from major bearing manufacturers for large, 960mm outside diameter cylindrical roller bearings. Employing its specialist design and manufacturing facilities, Revolvo was able to cut the best-case 18-month delivery time by more than 50%, and deliver the bearings in just 8 months.
A major investment project, the upgrade concentrated on the large mill at Castle Works and involved the replacement of tapered sleeve bearings in the reduction mill with large 730mm bore (960mm OD) cylindrical roller bearings. These bearings were crucial to the project, as rolling shop manager, Bob Beale reports.
"We couldn't have gone ahead with the project without the cylindrical roller bearings; they were crucial to completing the project on time. Unfortunately, when we contacted the major bearing manufacturers, they all quoted 18-24 months delivery on large size bearings, which gave us a major problem. It was our purchasing manager who first had the idea of contacting Revolvo. I had used the company before to supply some thrust bearings, and I was very satisfied with their performance. However, I wasn't aware that the company could manufacture bearings of the size that we now required.
"Revolvo were very good," recalls Mr Beale. "They handled everything, including the export paperwork as 50% of the bearing order was for the USA. Revolvo delivered the bearings on time to our sub-contactor, completely assembled into chocks. The chocks were then assembled onto the rolls prior to fitment in the mill. This took place in early January and we commenced rolling in February. Although it's still early days, the indications are promising as the quality of output from the mill is very encouraging."
A member of the Wyko Group, Revolvo manufactures solid bearings in sizes from 25mm bore to 1,400mm external diameter, so the Castle Works job posed no special problems for the manufacturer. The company also produces spherical roller bearings in sizes from 35mm bore to over 1,000mm internal diameter, plus imperial equivalents. In addition, it manufactures inch, special custom-designed, and obsolete sizes of solid ball and roller bearings, which are used to keep older machinery in operation. All Revolvo bearings are produced to DIN PO/ABEC 1 standards, with up to P5 available on request.