BNL’s manufacturing history is inextricably linked with plastic poultry processing wheel, which we pioneered 4 decades ago. We realised that plastic wheels could offer better operating life, less maintenance and downtime then the steel wheels and bearings that were commonly used at the time. The leading poultry processing machinery manufacturers of that time agreed with us, and we became the largest supplier of plastic poultry wheels in the world. We still count the worlds largest brands as our customers 40 years later, including Marel Stork & Linco.

Our range includes bearings and wheels for T-Track, Pipe Track and I-Beam/X348 models, plus other wheel profiles and fixings suitable for poultry weights from chicken through to goose. We also provide sets of yokes and wheels for overhead conveyor and poultry processing systems.

Benefits

• Smooth operation without lubrication – Thermoplastic materials are inherently lubricated. BNL plastic poultry wheel bearings operate smoothly without the need for grease or oil.
• Corrosion resistant – Our plastic poultry wheel bearings are corrosion resistant to water and washdown chemicals, so have a longer operating life in comparison to wheel containing corrodible metal components.
• Low maintenance – Our wheels do not need frequent maintenance to replace lubrication, or removing due to corrosion, so our customers have less down time due to routine maintenance.

Less downtime, more productivity

We provide our customers with overhead conveyor wheels that increase line efficiency and lower the cost of ownership. By providing robust, hard wearing wheels we can minimise unnecessary line maintenance that leads to loss of manufacturing time and increased labor costs, as well as the cost of the wheels themselves.

By using BNL’s poultry wheels on their processing lines, one of our clients  practically eliminated downtime from wheel failure and saw replacement wheel costs drop more than 99% in less than 3 months. During those months, the client saved over fifty hours in downtime, significantly improving productivity and realised additional savings in labor and maintenance material costs.

Lightweight & Low Torque for Energy Savings

Plastic bearings have a lower torque to rotate than steel bearings because they are lighter and do not need lubrication or grease to operate effectively. Using integrated bearing designs, careful material selection and specialist manufacturing processes, BNL produce bearings that have as little as a third of the torque of an equivalent steel bearing. By reducing the amount of torque in the system, our customers can use a lower specification or size of a motor to drive our lighter bearings, using less energy on start-up and in operation. Sometimes a machine needs a specific torque to perform correctly, and in these cases, we can also ‘tune’ torque to rotate in a custom bearing design, to meet the specific requirements of the system.

Free-flow & Anti Clog Bearings

For systems that are prone to clogging from debris or liquid ingress, BNL’s “free flow” cage and race design allows water and debris a passage through the bearing component for a continued flow of liquid even under low pressure conditions. Our cage-less ‘open design’ is used instead of shields and seals reducing the risk of bearing seizure, has less than half the torque to rotate of our normal radial plastic bearings and less than a quarter of similar sized metal options.

Discover more about our free flow, anti-clog bearings.

Speciality Materials for Chemical Exposure & High Temperatures

BNL plastic bearings are made from acetal with stainless steel 316 balls chemical and corrosion resistant to various acids, alkalis and cleaning chemicals, with a wide thermal range. Our specialty range of bearings use plastic and ball materials that can withstand extreme chemicals and temperatures.

Discover more about the bearing materials we use.

Conveyor System Bearings & Other Ranges

We also design and manufacture a range of conveyor system, material handling and automation bearings, such as skate wheels and conveyor roller end caps, plus plastic pulleys, thrust races, and rollers.

Discover our conveyor systems bearings.

View our Industry Standard Products.