Case Study – Alumina conveyor snub pulley

At an alumina refinery in Western Australia, snub pulley bearings on a train loading conveyor had to be replaced every 16 weeks due to premature failures caused by contamination, abrasive wear, and installation issues.

Our Australian distributor, Statewide Bearings, recommended upgrading to COC CX2SN11-050 units with protective covers and sealing improvements.

Result

The bearing life was extended from 16 weeks to 60 weeks — nearly 4 times longer.

Importantly, the bearings were still in excellent condition at inspection and could have continued running even longer.

Customer Feedback

• “Very easy to install”

• “Completed much faster than expected”

• “Using a torque wrench makes installation simple and accurate”

Cost Savings (per conveyor, per year)

• Before: AU$30,016

• After: AU$6,490

• Savings: AU$23,526

Key Benefit

Improved reliability significantly reduces the risk of unplanned downtime.

In this application, a full production stop could cost approximately AU$2.5 million per day, making reliability critical.