A mine in Colorado, USA, shortened mean time to repair (MTTR) by 55% and improved worker safety by installing an SKF Cooper split spherical roller bearing instead of the original standard bearing for their conveyor pulley. The bearing exchange took 5 days instead of the estimated 9.
Installing a new standard bearing would require taking down a wall and several days of crane rental. There would also be a high risk of injury if the pulley dropped when lifted out of the machine room. The operation would take 9 days to complete, exceeding the 6-day stockpile time limit. By instead choosing the 47 cm SKF Cooper sealed split spherical roller bearing, the exchange took 4 days, including cutting open and removing the old bearing from the pulley.
Since the pulley remained in place, there was no need to run in the belt after installation. And the next time the bearing needs to be exchanged, the mine is estimating a new split spherical bearing will take only about 18 hours to install.