The catalogue provides the entire list of available products offered by the company and in addition gives engineers design guidelines and the latest theories on tribology, lubrication and bearing performance. The current print version of the General Catalogue was produced in 1989.

“A lot has happened in the bearing business in the past 13 years, and the new General Catalogue is required to reflect the changes SKF has done to align to modern bearing market requirements,” explains project manager Ebbe Malmstedt, of SKF Service Division. “The next generation will also better reflect the new business structure of SKF, with its focus on services, reliability and electronics, for example.”

“The Book” as it has always been referred to inside SKF, will be available in the same formats that the current version is today – i.e., the printed book and the electronic Interactive Engineering Catalogue, on CD-Rom and online.

By the very nature of the electronic version, this will be the preferred method by which changes to the General Catalogue can be distributed to customers when needed.  It will also facilitate future versions of the print catalogue.

“Releasing a new SKF General Catalogue is in itself a happening in the bearing community worldwide and will put the focus on SKF,” says Malmstedt. “New theories enhance SKF’s technical leadership.  New, more accurate theories also offer better tools for the users to increase reliability in their designs and forecasts of operational parameters.”

The new edition is divided into an engineering section and a product section. The engineering section will have new and updated theories on friction and required viscosity and will introduce new life curves, lubrication intervals and speed ratings.

It will also include limiting speeds for the first time. The product section will contain information about more recent product groups such as CARB toroidal roller bearings, mechatronics, hybrid bearings, coated bearings, and Explorer class bearings.

The General Catalogue is important in several ways. For example it shows the expertise available to customers from SKF, and it is also a practical and useful engineering handbook.

Over the years, 1 million copies of the existing General Catalogue were printed and distributed, Malmstedt estimates.  This makes it one of the most widely owned engineering publications worldwide. Such a print run, however, may not be reached for the new General Catalogue.

As product lines need to be revised more often, and the service side of SKF’s business grows, future issues of the General Catalogue are planned to be released more frequently.

The initial print run for the new catalogue will be 100,000 copies, split equally between English and German versions, with other languages following as soon as possible.

It will have approximately the same number of pages as the current catalogue, around 900, and will be priced modestly at 10 to 12 euros. In a departure from the previous version, it will now be printed in colour.

The new catalogue can be ordered through local SKF companies.  An ordering service via the Web is also being planned for the launch.