Could precision miniature bearings help reduce aircraft maintenance costs?
15 per cent of airlines in the US have experienced rising maintenance costs, reports McKinsey & Company. With maintenance, attention is often drawn to larger aerospace components that are most visible like the engines, turbines and the sheer scale of these machines. Yet behind every major system lies an unseen infrastructure, where the smallest components carry the greatest responsibility — including industrial bearings. Here, Chris Johnson, managing director of SMB Bearings, explains why prioritising precision miniature bearings could enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of aircraft maintenance.
“It’s the little details that are vital,” the revered American basketball coach John Wooden once said, adding, “Little things make big things happen.” This certainly applies to aircraft maintenance, which faces a couple of major issues.
One is ageing aircraft. Older craft require more frequent and complex maintenance, which puts greater pressure on Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) operations. Yet, at the same time, airline maintenance performance has worsened across several key operational metrics.
According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), technical dispatch reliability has declined substantially — by as much as 50 per cent in some cases, reducing the likelihood that aircraft are ready for scheduled departures. At the same time, maintenance-related delays have increased significantly, in some cases occurring two to three times more frequently than before.
BCG reports that these issues do not affect operational safety. Nevertheless, the costs of deteriorated performance are severe and far-reaching — including lost revenue and higher compensation costs. Maintenance delays put extra strain on aircraft components, as well as on the maintenance teams.
It’s clear that an improved approach to maintenance planning is needed. More effective aircraft maintenance means reducing time spent on administrative tasks, freeing experienced workers to perform actual maintenance activities, as well as training and supervision. Predictive maintenance, too, encourages more accurate forward planning to avoid delays.
Much has already been written about digitalised maintenance. But, further to this, companies are turning increasingly towards artificial intelligence (AI).
AI-based technical support, for example, can free human workers to instead focus on practical maintenance tasks. But successfully integrating AI has its own challenges. AI systems can be expensive and less compatible with older aircraft. AI language models and predictive systems rely on freely accessible, relevant and high-quality data, so compatibility with modern Industry 4.0 systems is a must.
Fortunately, this is where Industry 4.0 sensors can play a significant role, particularly when external sensors are positioned adjacent to precision miniature bearings to capture signals generated within surrounding rotating assemblies.
The role of precision miniature bearings in a digital age
Miniature bearings are increasingly being used in applications where precision, smooth rotation and low friction are essential for small and precise movements — including within aircraft. They play a key role in vital systems like flight control mechanisms, and engine parts such as turbines, compressors and gearboxes.
While miniature bearings themselves are passive mechanical components without integrated sensing capability, they remain critical components within sensor-enabled systems around them. When in motion, precision bearings will generate a variety of physical signals such as micro-vibrations, heat, or even slight changes in shaft motion. These physical outputs then propagate throughout the machine body, where external sensors positioned near bearings can track key condition metrics produced by these signals such as temperature, vibration, load, strain, rotational speed and acoustic signatures. The data obtained can then be fed back to maintenance software, enabling earlier detection of potential failures, supporting predictive maintenance to reduce unexpected delays and improving MRO planning and operations.
Aircraft components operate under intense speeds and stress, which is why bearings used with these systems must be durable. To this end, ceramic bearings can handle high temperatures, corrosion and high speeds while still being lightweight. Stainless steel bearings, on the other hand, provide good fatigue strength and hardness as well as corrosion resistance. When choosing bearings, material selection is guided by the specific demands placed on each component and application within the aircraft — large or small.
By focusing on often overlooked aircraft components and leveraging advances in AI, precision miniature bearings — despite their small size — can deliver significant impact. These components play a critical role within condition-monitoring systems that generate the data used for predictive maintenance, helping reduce pressure on MRO operations and address one of the industry’s most complex challenges: rising maintenance costs. As John Wooden observed, sometimes the little things truly make big things happen.