Manufacturing is facing constant challenges stemming from labor shortages and disrupted supply chains to productivity declines and the high replacement and maintenance costs of legacy equipment. Trends today include equipment upgrades, e-commerce, a push for more robotics and automation and faster software and IIoT solutions.

The AD Bearings and Power Transmission division gathered for its annual North American Meeting on March 8-11, giving AD members and supplier partners a chance to celebrate a year of growth and new opportunities. 

NTN, the parent company of BCA Bearings, has announced the addition of 16 new product SKUs to the BCA aftermarket product line. BCA’s March 2022 release includes wheel hub assemblies and repair kits for a number of import and domestic applications and represents premium coverage for over 6.9 million vehicles in operation.

Solve Industrial Motion Group has acquired SST Bearing Corporation (“SST Bearings”), a worldwide supplier and manufacturer of bearings and power transmission components.

When designing for linear motion systems, the initial decision between round and square rail can significantly impact cost, performance and durability. Square rail, which is typically the more expensive option, has a higher load capacity and tighter accuracy. Round rail offers distinct cost and reliability advantages for certain applications, but maximizing those advantages depends on specifying the right bearing to minimize friction in each application. Designers must often choose between plain bearings, often called bushings, and ball bearings. And within each type, they will have more options that impact price, performance, maintainability and durability. Understanding these options early in the design cycle will optimize the performance and cost of the linear motion application.

Solve Industrial Motion Group has hired Mark Chandler as the chief operating officer (COO). Chandler brings decades of supply chain, operations, and distribution experience to the company’s executive leadership team.

Bearings from SKF are playing a key role in a record-breaking engineering project – the world’s longest suspension bridge, which recently opened on March 18, 2022, in Turkey.