Problem: Problem: KLAW Industries' ball mills were starting to run 24hrs / day, but as a result we started to see rapid deterioration and failure of our very expensive drivetrain wheels within 4-5 days of begining to run 24hrs a day. This was due to increasing internal heat (due to friction) inside the polyurethane, causing the caster to melt from the inside.

Once the wheels failed it was a 10-12hr process to remove and replace them.

Solution: I identified the Rolls Royce caster manufacturers in the U.S. and purchased a set of their best polyurethane wheels. Although expensive, these provided a reliable baseline, access to industry experts, and time to test more affordable alternatives.

After identify, sourcing samples, and evaluating several suppliers, we identified a durable, lower-cost alternative that met our operational requirements and cost 50% less than our original wheels (that lasted 5 days), allowing us to standardize the design for future ball mills.

Steps Taken

1) Identify the Failure - Investigated the rapid deterioration of our drivetrain wheels under continuous operation and determined that a more durable wheel material was needed.

2) Establish a Reliable Baseline - Sourced premium polyurethane wheels from a leading U.S. manufacturer to establish a reliable solution and eliminate immediate production disruptions.

3) Leverage Supplier Expertise - Worked with the manufacturer's technical experts to better understand polyurethane materials, wheel construction, and the factors affecting durability in our application.

4) Test Lower-Cost Alternatives - Identified alternative suppliers, ordered samples, and conducted comparative trials to evaluate wheel durability, performance, and cost in our application by trialing all of them on our ball mill.

5) Standardize the Final Design - Selected a lower-cost wheel that met our performance requirements at half the cost of the original design, establishing a more economical drivetrain solution for future ball mills.