A British one Automobile-Manufacturer had a problem with the maintenance of the conveyor chains that his Hanging strap drive. This is used to transport the assembled carBodySilo equipment. The roller chains had to be replaced too often, otherwise they would have brought production to a standstill. By converting to a special conveyor chain from Tsubaki the problem could be solved. Only they had to Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) instead of the purchase price.

Tsubaki conveyor chain hanging strap

 

During the Automobile assembly the machines and systems used must run 24 hours a day all year round. Otherwise, downtimes can quickly cost thousands of euros per minute. Unfortunately, many people in charge see them Drive chain still appear as a product and make their purchase decisions based on price. You would be better off also throwing performance and quality into the balance.

Small conveyor chain with a big impact

During the Body assembly of cars, overhead conveyors often move the car parts from one workstation to the next. The conveyor systems driven by conveyor chains thus represent an important part of the material flow. If a conveyor chain fails, a large part of the production line comes to a standstill over several process steps. Special chains offer a much longer service life than standard chains - especially when it comes to high-performance applications.


Conveyor chain with 5 instead of 2 years lifespan in a large bakery


Also one of the UK's largest Automobile-Mounting plants had this problem. The in the Overhead conveyor The built-in chain had to be replaced every twelve months and serviced every three months. To be on the safe side, the conveyor chain was lubricated every three months. Nevertheless it became stiff and stiff. In addition, dust particles caused pollution. That led to wear and tear. The conveyor chain usually broke before the end of the twelve months.

Change to special conveyor chains recommended

The operations manager had to change that and turned to the leading manufacturer of drive technology products, Tsubaki. The experts found that the OE versions originally installed were not suitable for high-performance operation. So they suggested the OE chain through a Quality chain to replace.

Tsubaki conveyor chain

In addition, the new conveyor chains should offer added value for the production line and lower total operating costs Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). The Tsubaki engineers then recommended switching to a maintenance-free, self-lubricating chain for the Lambda-Series. This means that manual lubrication is no longer necessary. This reduced maintenance costs and downtime.


Tsubaki chain wear gaugeChain wear gauges for roller chains now also for RS20B to RS48B


In order to further increase the service life of the roller chains, the engineers developed a special cover platethat was attached to every other chain link over the bolt. This reduced pollution and protected the roller chain from wear. The rivets used to attach the cover plates to the bolts were replaced with high-strength screws that are held in place with a locking adhesive.

After comparing the products and replacing the chains, the conveyor system usually works reliably for more than two years. That is more than twice the service life of the OE conveyor chains.