RMP Bearings’ reputation and performance is built on the foundation of its vast experience in design, engineering & technical developments. The company has seen constant growth since its inception in 1978 and has been by its in house ideas and innovations. Innovative ideas are put into realization by a process of design, prototyping, testing validation & serial production.
The company has grown both in sales and operating margins largely because of various cost rationalization measures undertaken and by entering into the new segment and by introducing some new products. “We have heightened our export business remarkably and substantiated double digit growth in export. Also, there is a huge projection in our export business in the coming years for which we are going to invest a lot to recast the existing infrastructure,” revealed Mr. Miten Makwana, Director- Operations, RMP Bearings.
New developments
Over the years, considerable evolution has happened in the design and manufacturing of bearings. RMP has RMP has developed Plastic strut bearings that Absorb radial and axial forces, ensure low-friction and distortion-free movement of the shock absorber spring during steering and deflection, enabling the spring to operate without self-aligning torque. “Apart from this we also have a special ball bearing 519447 & 448 RMP-patented textile bearing, design that it has a built-in capability to reduce wear and fatigue-promoting stress concentrations on rolling surfaces and PTO Clutch Bearing for Tractor segment,” informed the Director.
RMP has made significant inroads towards active vehicle safety and driving assistance systems. Although this information could be determined via numerous different methods, due to various reasons, no commercially feasible approach has yet been introduced. “Using the bearing for load measurement has considerable advantages making it commercially attractive as: i) it can be performed on a non-rotating part, ii) all wheel loads can be measured and iii) usually the bearing serves the entire lifetime of the vehicle. Our NPD & R&D department is working on the same and hope to launch the Wheel Bearing by end of 2017,” he disclosed.
Application-specific materials
Several problems can occur in the bearings and in the entire drive-line when the temperature increases. Normally RMP carries out endurance test / performance test as per customer’s requirement. “We have done additional 40,000 cycle over and above the customer specified requirement for ‘Bearing Assembly Top Cup front strut’ at 80°C with the Z axis load of 3050 kg,” he revealed.
Owing to a wide variety of characteristics needed by bearings in various applications’ they can operate in high-tech environments or very demanding applications found in steel and paper mills. Whatever the application, there will likely be a material or plating designed specifically to allow the bearing to provide the equipment life required. “Obviously, due to the many operating conditions, the list of available materials is quite extensive. The need for coatings is based on three key operating requirements: A. Protection from corrosion, B. Protection from wear and C. Electrical conductivity protection. There are several coatings (Zinc-alloy, Zinc-iron, Zinc-Nickle, Mixed iron Oxide, etc.) being used by many manufacturers to improve the corrosion & wear resistance. Bearings and precision components from the RMP offer high performance capacity and a long operating life. They provide the user with thoroughly developed and economical solutions for the large majority of requirements. “As of now we are not using any coatings to improve the bearing life rather we are using suitable Material science & specialized Heat Treatment process & thus offering the customer advantages in the application. Also, we are going to implement the concept of Hybrid bearing in sync with BS-VI norms,” he explained.
Today 68 per cent of RMPs sales come from direct OEMs and 32 per cent from the aftermarket. The firm is also being attentive to its performance in overseas market, with an aim to attaining a trusted brand name on the back of the innovations it has undertaken. “We want to be amongst the top 3 bearing manufacturers in the country both in terms of quality and product range with a sales target of Rs. 120 crores by 2020 and Rs. 200 crores by 2025,” signed off Mr. Makwana.