The technology and equipment that a manufacturing company uses can often be its most expensive assets. In many industries, however, these pieces of equipment can often undergo an extensive amount of wear and tear. This is something that many businesses will want to minimise.

Wear and tear is something that can be seen across the steel manufacturing, bulk material handling, and mining industries, among many others. Despite how common this wear and tear may be, many company owners may not know how to avoid it.

One of the more notable ways that this can be done is through the use of wear plates, which have become increasingly more common in recent years. Though their use has become more widespread, many manufacturing professionals may not know much about them.

This could mean that they’ll miss out on the variety of benefits that the products will have. As a result, many companies will see their equipment being damaged much more than is necessary. To take full advantage of wear plates, there are a few things that you’ll need to know.

What Are Wear Plates?

Wear plates, which can often be called liners, are products that are placed onto a piece of equipment that has to undergo an extensive amount of wear and tear when in use. The wear plates are typically used on machinery that has to put up with a vast amount of friction.

While this friction may not cause too much damage in the short-term, it can lead to quite a considerable number of problems over time. This could result in the equipment becoming unusable over time, which is something that the majority of companies will want to avoid because of safety issues.

There are a variety of materials that these can be made of. A common one is the chromium carbide wear plate. The plates are typically bolted onto a piece of machinery to act as a protective barrier for the equipment. By doing so, the plates will absorb the damage that equipment normally would. There are a variety of benefits to this, with the most prominent being that the machinery should last much longer than it would without the wear plates.

As a result, manufacturing companies should see much less time repairing their equipment, which means that they’ll have considerably less downtime. Alongside this is the fact that they shouldn’t have to spend much money on replacing the machinery, which can often be quite expensive.

As you might expect, these plates are quite durable and can withstand friction and any other typical wear and tear over a long period. While they can often cost a significant amount, depending on the material that it’s made from, it can be a fraction of the price of replacing any damaged equipment.

How Are Wear Plates Used?

Many manufacturing companies may wonder how wear plates are used, as well as what kind of equipment they can be used with. While some people may assume that there will be a large number of differences depending on the industry that they’re used in, this isn’t necessarily true.

There are a few types of equipment that they’re typically used in, such as:

• Steel and Aluminum Mill Equipment
• Casting Equipment
• Shredders
• Crushers
• Heavy Earth Moving and Mining Equipment

The wear plates are typically placed between two pieces of equipment that see an extensive amount of friction. This is something that’s unavoidable for the majority of manufacturing processes, but companies want to minimise it as much as possible.

Wear plates negate this issue as much as possible by absorbing this friction and protecting both pieces of equipment. While the constant friction will naturally mean that you’ll have to replace the plates regularly, this will be quite inexpensive when compared to replacing or repairing equipment.

The cost savings that they should see here are enhanced further by the decreased downtime and subsequent drop in productivity that many companies will typically see when repairing the machinery.

Wear plates can come with a variety of different hardness ratings, which is something that a manufacturing company will need to look at before buying them. While harder plates will typically cost more than softer ones, they can often last much longer.

As a result, they can be worth the investment over the long-term. With how beneficial they can be for your company, wear plates are something that every manufacturing professional should consider.