
“Steyr is one of our best factories”, said SKF CEO Alrik Danielson in Gothenburg in praising the Austrian facility to a delegation. E-mobility offers the rolling bearing specialist major opportunities in the future. Due to increasing demand, production capacity for ceramic rollers will be massively expanded at SKF Austria. The plant in Steyr will add 3,000 square meters by the end of 2018. The company is making investments in production machinery, research and testing equipment.
Rolling bearings have been produced from steel for more than one hundred years, and SKF was always a major driver of innovations in this field. SKF is now in the midst of bringing out a revolution in the field of rolling bearings thanks to its high-tech rolling bearings made of silicon nitride ceramics. These rolling bearings enable considerable technical improvements, such as a 60% weight reduction for aviation applications, reliable electrical bearings insulation for applications in electromobility and a doubling of the service life of lubricants on the basis of the optimized tribological properties. Within the global SKF Group, the technology and product development activities in Steyr are responsible for ceramic materials, rolling bearings made of technical ceramics and the end product of hybrid bearings, which are comprised of steel rings and ceramic rolling bearings.