Revolvo Invests in Advanced Manufacturing

Revolvo Bearings (a division of Wyko Industrial Services Ltd., UK; a subsidiary of Perdix Investments Ltd., UK) announced a wide-ranging update to its already-advanced bearing manufacturing facilities and technologies. Revolvo was founded in 1968 to manufacture high-precision nonstandard bearings. Located in the UK's West Midlands, the company has three divisions: • RPP -- Revolvo Precision Products. Produces solid bearings and specialist products for a variety of industries worldwide. Providing a complete source for standard and custom designed specialist bearings. RPP also produces nonstandard and obsolete sizes and specifications, inch or metric. • SRB -- Split Roller Bearings. Started in 1994, the division began selling split roller bearings in 1998. SRB offers a wide range of high-quality bearings, where the split design provides significant maintenance advantages. SRBs are offered in inch and metric sizes, approximately 18mm through 1000mm bore. • RF1 -- Revolvo Formula 1. Founded in 1993 to manufacture bearings for auto racing and specifically Formula One. Extremely high quality, specialized bearings, low production runs, operating inspection, lubrication design, and generally high service levels characterize RF1. Revolvo was acquired by Wyko in 2004; Wyko is the UK's largest distributor of bearings and power transmission products. In its latest move, the first major program under Wyko ownership, Revolvo said it has been upgrading the its manufacturing equipment, particularly ID and OD grinders. According to Wyko, £1.5 million (USD $2.8 million) has already been spent, with additional investment planned. New capabilities have also added new products. For example, Revolvo SRB now offers a split roller plummer block directly interchangeable with standard SN and SD series mounted units. See a cutaway split roller unit here. The company also has the advantage of advanced metallurgy. Its RF1 division, for example, developed and offers its own "R4+" version of aerospace grade tool steel. Revolvo's specifications include hardness of RockwellC 68-70, undisclosed bearing and geometry developments, and raceway surface plasma treatment. The manufacturing equipment being added includes high-precision ID and OD grinders from GER. With dynamically balanced wheels and other features, the GER grinders offer .25 micron precision. In addition, the precision grinding capability is being rolled out to both short and long production runs. Revolvo also said it has also installed precision laser etching equipment, upgraded QC-related measurement equipment and systems. Shortly, Revolvo plans to supplement the high-precision vertical grinding capacity of its split roller line. New vertical grinders will push the SRB line's OD grinding capability to 1500mm.