Gerdau and SKF have signed a fee-based agreement aimed at increasing productivity and reducing unplanned downtime at Gerdau’s Charqueadas and Ara?ariguama steel mills in Brazil.

The agreement will see SKF provide a full range of products, including bearings, remanufacturing, lubrication systems and connected condition monitoring units. Data from critical machinery at the two steel mills will be analyzed at SKF’s Rotating Equipment Performance Center in Brazil. Based on this analysis, SKF and Gerdau can plan maintenance and corrective actions, improving machine reliability and performance.

Fladimir Gauto, Executive Director at Gerdau Special Steel, Brazil, says: “We are focused on generating value and increasing competitiveness in our operations, as well as on advancing with the implementation of innovative solutions in the steel industry. Our partnership with SKF will certainly be an important support in this regard.”

Claudinei Reche, President, SKF Latin America, says: “By offering customers in the steel industry the opportunity to work with us on a fee-basis, we give them access to our full competence around the rotating shaft, in order to improve productivity. For an industry which has a very high cost for unplanned downtime, this is crucial. We will be able to help Gerdau improve their output and reduce their consumption of bearings, grease and energy, reducing the impact of their operations on the environment.”

With 118 years of history, Gerdau is Brazil's largest producer of steel, a leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the world’s leading suppliers of special steel. In Brazil, it also produces flat steels and iron ore for its own consumption.