SKF announces the implementation of the wind industry quality standard

SKF India launched the wind industry quality standard (WIQS) at the SKF Knowledge Forum in Pune. WIQS, SKF’s latest initiative for the wind energy sector was first presented at this year’s WindEnergy Hamburg exhibition. The WIQS has been designed to help wind turbine manufacturers as well as wind farm operators improve turbine efficiency and availability, SKF’s wind industry quality standard (WIQS) is a major step forward in standardising engineering, manufacturing and quality assurance processes for wind turbines, sub-systems and components.

The WIQS takes an innovative approach, bringing together established practices and standards from a number of different disciplines. These include APQP and Engineering Change Management, which are combined with SKF’s industrial engineering experience, gained in sectors ranging from aerospace, automotive and rail, to traditional and renewable energy.

Bernd Stephan, Director, SKF Renewable Energy Business Unit, explains, “The wind energy sector is developing rapidly. To optimise productivity and profitability it is essential that turbine output and reliability are maximised. Our wind industry quality standard plays a vital role in helping customers meet these needs by defining specific engineering, manufacturing and quality processes for bearings and other critical turbine components. This will ensure consistency and full traceability throughout the entire value chain, delivering even greater reliability, controlled maintenance and optimised life cycle cost efficiency”.

The SKF WIQS defines six key areas: advanced quality planning, engineering change management, traceability, non-destructive testing, cleanliness and visual appearance. Together, these control component quality at every stage of the production process. In the example of bearings, this starts with the initial steel melt and continues through manufacturing to final sub-surface and surface inspection, packing and delivery. Every step is governed by techniques adapted from the APQP standard, covering factors such as product and process risk analysis, critical production stages and process validation.

SKF will be implementing the WIQS in phases between 2014 and 2016, in factories that produce wind turbine bearings. The first bearings to be certified to the WIQS will be main shaft and gearbox bearings.