Bearing currents have been around in one form or another since Tesla’s invention of the induction motor in 1887. A recent search of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Xplore database revealed more than 4,200 papers written and archived discussing this subject. Of these, roughly half were authored in the last 10 years, indicating that the understanding of these currents continues to grow through experimentation and analysis. Understanding the mechanism by which bearing currents are generated provides insight into best practices for remediation.

On June 19th, Asa Hutchinson, Governor of the US state of Arkansas, visited ABB headquarters in Switzerland to discuss firsthand about ABB's leadership in and support for youth education and training. Hutchinson was introduced to ABB’s apprenticeship program, in which apprentices acquire practical training supplemented by classroom instruction. Afterwards, Hutchinson met with Morten Wierod, President of ABB's Motion business, who introduced the Governor to the ABB Swiss apprentices who will spend their summer on assignment at ABB Motors and Generators business in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith has partnered with ABB to introduce the first Youth Apprenticeship Program for advanced manufacturing in the state of Arkansas. The collaborative program was launched at the Fort Smith Area Chamber of Commerce Signing Day on May 3 when nine students from six local high schools officially joined ABB as apprentices.

Proper lubrication is the factor that has the largest impact on bearing life. It is commonly believed in the industry that at least 80% of bearing failures are related to lubrication and contamination issues. Lubricants minimize wear, prevent corrosion and reduce heat. Lubricants are made up of several components and can be mineral or synthetic.

ABB has appointed Maryrose Sylvester as Country Managing Director (CMD) and Head of Electrification for the United States, effective August 1, 2019. In the CMD role, she will succeed Greg Scheu, who will support a smooth transition until his retirement at the end of October 31, 2019. Sylvester was most recently President & CEO of “Current, powered by GE”, a GE startup business that was acquired in April by New York-based private equity firm American Industrial Partners. Having spent her career at GE, she held several executive-level positions, including President & CEO of GE Lighting, of GE Intelligent Platforms/GE FANUC, which was GE’s longest-running joint venture with a Japanese company, and of GE Quartz.

Mounted bearings are critical in many applications across a broad range of processing industries, including mining, aggregate, cement and food and beverage. Mounted bearings are used on bulk material handling conveyors moving aggregate, cement, sand, gravel or grain through the production process. You'll also find bearings in a food or beverage plant, moving product or bottles. Another common application is air handling, with bearings mounted on industrial fans. Mounted bearings are easy to install and their housings offer more protection, which helps in these type applications.

On June 19th, Asa Hutchinson, Governor of the US state of Arkansas, visited ABB headquarters in Switzerland to discuss firsthand about ABB's leadership in and support for youth education and training. Hutchinson was introduced to ABB’s apprenticeship program, in which apprentices acquire practical training supplemented by classroom instruction. Afterwards, Hutchinson met with Morten Wierod, President of ABB's Motion business, who introduced the Governor to the ABB Swiss apprentices who will spend their summer on assignment at ABB Motors and Generators business in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith has partnered with ABB to introduce the first Youth Apprenticeship Program for advanced manufacturing in the state of Arkansas. The collaborative program was launched at the Fort Smith Area Chamber of Commerce Signing Day on May 3 when nine students from six local high schools officially joined ABB as apprentices.

ABB has appointed Maryrose Sylvester as Country Managing Director (CMD) and Head of Electrification for the United States, effective August 1, 2019. In the CMD role, she will succeed Greg Scheu, who will support a smooth transition until his retirement at the end of October 31, 2019. Sylvester was most recently President & CEO of “Current, powered by GE”, a GE startup business that was acquired in April by New York-based private equity firm American Industrial Partners. Having spent her career at GE, she held several executive-level positions, including President & CEO of GE Lighting, of GE Intelligent Platforms/GE FANUC, which was GE’s longest-running joint venture with a Japanese company, and of GE Quartz.

Mounted bearings are critical in many applications across a broad range of processing industries, including mining, aggregate, cement and food and beverage. Mounted bearings are used on bulk material handling conveyors moving aggregate, cement, sand, gravel or grain through the production process. You'll also find bearings in a food or beverage plant, moving product or bottles. Another common application is air handling, with bearings mounted on industrial fans. Mounted bearings are easy to install and their housings offer more protection, which helps in these type applications.

Two high school seniors have their future careers at their fingertips after signing letters of intent with a local manufacturing company. McKale McKinney and Branson Peek, seniors at McDowell High School (MHS), are both employed by ABB, formerly Baldor, as assemblers making mounted roller bearings at over $15 an hour. They worked with ABB as part of Career and Technical Education pre apprenticeship program. Now, they have the opportunity to continue their career at ABB, while continuing their education.

Every year, high school students sign national letters of intent to play sports in college. The schools host signing day ceremonies and colleges expecting commitments are prepared with press releases, graphics and videos featuring famous alumni to celebrate the new Arkansas Razorbacks or Oklahoma Sooners. Students not going to college or postponing higher education, however, tend to get overlooked. Not this year. The Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, local businesses, the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and school districts hosted at the chamber’s First Friday Breakfast a signing day for high school and college students going to work at a number of local businesses.

Bearing currents have been around in one form or another since Tesla’s invention of the induction motor in 1887. A recent search of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Xplore database revealed more than 4,200 papers written and archived discussing this subject. Of these, roughly half were authored in the last 10 years, indicating that the understanding of these currents continues to grow through experimentation and analysis. Understanding the mechanism by which bearing currents are generated provides insight into best practices for remediation.

Proper lubrication is the factor that has the largest impact on bearing life. It is commonly believed in the industry that at least 80% of bearing failures are related to lubrication and contamination issues. Lubricants minimize wear, prevent corrosion and reduce heat. Lubricants are made up of several components and can be mineral or synthetic.

Cement production processes are some of the most challenging, yet rewarding applications to manage, operate, and maintain. Aged equipment, such as gear reducers, mounted bearings on a pulley shaft, or industrial electric motors, will be subjected to fine particles of dust, extreme temperature fluctuations, and varying degrees of moisture and condensation. All of these factors eventually contribute to costly, unplanned downtime. Cement plant personnel should have access to a clearly defined emergency plan, developed for when critical equipment used on important applications catastrophically fails.

A Control Design reader writes: I work at an OEM that makes process skids for wastewater treatment and custom agricultural-related machines and equipment. It seems like we have a huge number of suppliers, which affects both design and procurement with too much time spent specifying parts, too many purchase orders and too much time chasing delivery time. We either need to limit the suppliers or find an easier way to specify, order and receive parts. Are there online tools, online stores or portals where the design and purchasing departments can go to select parts and configure systems? I'm looking for a way to automatically generate a parts list or have quick access to standard, fast lead time control components. What are my options for both new, upgrade and spare parts projects?

Powering production in food plants is not as simple as throwing a switch. Peak-time charges, outages, surges and other factors can complicate calculations of cost and reliability and require solutions that go beyond standardizing on premium motors. The good news is that OEMs are delivering solutions on multiple fronts, from systems approaches to power delivery and servo options to sanitary design improvements and smart motors.

In ways big and small, food manufacturing is tapping into the promise and potential of internet-based tools and applications that address some of the most nettlesome problems in plant operations. At least two makers of AC induction motors are introducing moderately priced sensors for monitoring temperature, current and vibration, a capability reserved in years past for large machinery that would have catastrophic consequences if they went down. One of these condition-monitoring tools, the ABB Smart Sensor, soon will be able to continuously relay data to the cloud for analysis and reporting of maintenance alerts.

Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin takes second place due to strong growth in manufacturing employment over the past few years. From 2010 – 2015, the number of manufacturing jobs in the area grew by 37.8%, a figure beaten by only 5% of metro areas in our study. The growth in jobs is accompanied by growing incomes. From 2014 to 2015 the average income for a manufacturing worker here grew by 14.7%. That’s the 13th-fastest rate.

ABB has launched a full range of IEC Food Safe motors designed for applications in the food and beverage industry that need frequent sanitation. The new IEC Food Safe motors are part of ABB’s Food Safe family that includes stainless steel NEMA motors, mounted ball bearings and gearing. IEC Food Safe motor feature smooth stainless steel enclosures that are easy to clean and sanitize so customers can meet increasingly stringent hygiene standards. The motors’ have achieved the IP69 water protection rating and encapsulated winding enable the motors to last much longer than general purpose products in tough washdown conditions.

ABB has launched Dodge® Food Safe mounted ball bearings, which are designed to withstand caustic, high-pressure cleaning and sanitation processes. The new bearings are the first industrial bearings to achieve the IP69 water protection rating without the use of an end cover, making them ideal for use in the food and beverage industry, where equipment must be aggressively cleaned. They are the only bearings to carry a warranty against failure due to water ingress.

ABB applies industry-leading smart sensor technology to Dodge® mounted bearings to prevent unexpected downtime and extend equipment life. ABB has launched the ABB Ability™ Smart Sensor for Dodge mounted bearings, part of the ABB Ability™ Digital Powertrain, that enables “health checks” for bearings. The smart sensor technology provides an early indicator of any potential problems by assessing the condition of bearings from vibration and temperature information. This helps to prevent downtime on applications such as bulk material handling conveyors typically found in the mining, aggregate and cement industries, as well as applications in the food and beverage and air handling sectors.

Food safety compliance demands equipment that can face the challenges of the food and beverage industry. Food safety violations are on the rise, costing companies thousands, if not millions, to resolve; all while posing a health risk to the public and damaging the company’s reputation. This means that all food processing equipment should be designed, used, and maintained with food safety principals in mind. Yet, many products fail prematurely due to corrosion and/or grease washout from the high pressure, caustic washdowns common in achieving the increasingly stringent cleanliness standards.

We are proud to announce the next generation food safe, stainless steel motor platform for extreme environments within the food and beverage industry. Baldor-Reliance Food Safe motors, designed with smooth contours and advanced sealing, exceed IP69K for water, to maximize motor life in high pressure, sanitary cleaning environments.

The Dodge Hydraulic ISAF (HISAF) mounted spherical roller bearing features a patented built-in hydraulic mounting system that makes this bearing simple to mount and dismount. Hydraulic pressure replaces physical labor, creating a safer and more accurate installation. The ease and precision of installation means less time is spent installing and removing the HISAF, reducing downtime on the equipment and labor costs associated with replacing bearings. Built to the same critical mounting dimensions as the industry standard SAF and SDAF, HISAF is a drop in interchange to existing equipment.

Readers of Control Magazine have named ABB as the top supplier to deliver the “best technology” in the category of electric motors for 2019. This marks the 7th year in a row that ABB has topped the charts in this survey. In this year’s edition, Control Magazine recognized the full integration of Baldor Electric into ABB which strengthened our top spot.

The Manufacturing Institute has announced the 2019 STEP Ahead Award Honorees and Emerging Leaders. These women have accomplished success within their companies and have proven to be leaders in the industry as a whole. This year, the Institute has also chosen to recognize a select few for the Emerging Leaders category – representing young women who are the future of the industry and have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments at just the beginning of their careers.

Azima, Inc. offered corporate leaders and plant managers a rare glimpse into its proprietary machine-reliability databases, by publishing definitive reliability scores for the industrial motors most commonly deployed around the world today. Azima has ranked not just the world's leading industrial motor brands, but specific models as well. Azima's Reliability Ratings Report (Industrial Motors) is the first installment in a series of forthcoming performance ratings for various classes of industrial rotating machinery. Azima is a fast-growing high-tech company that maximizes industrial productivity. Azima provides technology-powered, data-driven Predictive Maintenance services to hundreds of leading companies in twelve different industries, all over the world.

ABB, a motor and generator manufacturer, developed an impressive recycling program over the past year. Recycling included more than 2,727 tons of scrap metal, wood, used oil, batteries, electronics, lamps, paper, cardboard and plastic. Other non-recyclable waste was turned into energy through their recent Zero Landfill Initiative. The facility worked with their largest supplier to establish a returnable packaging agreement. In 2017, ABB earned more than $265,000 from the sale of its recyclables. When meals were catered to the facility, excess food was donated to the local fire department. To encourage recycling and zero waste, every employee was trained and these initiatives were incorporated into new employee orientation. ABB also participated in the Upstate Lean Alliance, sharing ideas with and mentoring other businesses.

For the 16th year in a row, Control Design Magazine readers has chosen Baldor-Reliance motors as the premier choice in the industrial electric motor category. More than 15,000 readers were invited to access Control Design Magazine confidential ballot to cast their vote in an unaided ballot of their go-to sources for products and service in machine automation.

Tennessee Occupational Health and Safety Administration (TOSHA) officials traveled to Rogersville on Tuesday, March 20, to present the Governor’s Award of Excellence for Workplace Safety and Health to the ABB Rogersville Ball Bearing Plant.