Original Date: 01/26/1998
Revision Date: 01/18/2003

Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) has a state-of-the-art bearing shop for acceptance inspection of new bearings, and for repair of used bearings for aviation use or for other purposes. The majority of the work in the bearing shop is for aviation use. In 1997, 28,000 used bearings were processed through the shop with 74% of the bearings being reclaimed for use. The 1997 cost savings for reclaiming bearings versus purchasing new bearings was $9.8 million with a cost avoidance of $7.5 million.

Approximately 13,000 new aviation bearings are checked in the facility per year to ensure that the bearings are functional and meet all requirements before use. Approximately 1% of the new bearings fail to meet the requirements. Each bearing is assigned a traveler for traceability upon receipt. The bearings are weighed, then cleaned, disassembled, and checked for all critical dimensions. New bearings are never handled without using gloves to prevent corrosive skin oils from contaminating the bearing. The bearings are cleaned and then reassembled and process packed in a clean room environment. Each package contains a label printed with all critical measurements and the complete identification of the bearing.

Bearings that are used, or new bearings that fail to meet the requirements, may be reworked by honing the races up to 0.0003 inch if necessary, and installing new balls or rollers. The bearings are cleaned and then reassembled and process packed in a clean room environment. Each package is marked with the same information as a new bearing, and also contains the number of operating hours on the bearing.

Bearings are typically processed through the facility in a three-day window for normal priority items, and in one day for high priority work. Less than 0.1% of the bearings are ever returned by the customer due to the bearings not meeting requirements. An example of one success story is when a customer was grounding some of its aircraft due to shortages and non-availability of one bearing, due to problems with the stock on hand of 664 bearings. The bearing shop was called on to assist in the problem. The shop was able to reclaim approximately 500 of the bearings in a two-day period and prevented the grounding of the aircraft.

The personnel in the bearing shop are rotated every ten weeks to a different job in the shop so that, at the end of five-and-one-half years, everyone is familiar with all of the processes performed. The facility can process bearings ranging in size from miniature to large (three feet).

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.