The Company, The Product
The bearing isolator, is a non-contact, non-wearing, permanent bearing protection device invented by David C. Orlowski in 1977 (patent #4,022,479) to replace lip seals and other types of contact sealing methods that carry a 100% failure rate. A non-contacting type labyrinth seal, the bearing isolator never wears out and can be used over and over for many years.

Irrefutable Attributes Unique To Inpro/Seal
The company states that much of their success is related to characteristics unique and irrefutable to the Inpro/Seal brand, including: same day shipping (the fastest in the industry); zero energy consumption; ongoing training of sales people and end users; an active R & D program; ongoing investments in the future; industry leading warranty; only bearing isolator with a vapor blocking ring; documented 20 year life expectancy; widest product range; largest data bank of its kind; latest, the best non-contacting labyrinth sealing technology and more. A performance based, free bearing isolator program was recently announced.

Green Is The Color Of Money
When engaged with a rotating shaft, a contact seal, (lip seal or face seal) consumes, on average, 147 watts of power while operating. To show how significant this can be, if every bearing isolator that Inpro/Seal shipped year-to-date was used to replace an energy consuming lip seal, the energy savings alone would be would approximate 52,920,000 watts. Then, add to that the cost of downtime and you can see how much a bearing isolator change out can contribute to a plant's bottom line. Bearing isolators are non-contacting, never wear out and do not consume energy. Because they consume no energy and can actually reduce energy needs while cutting costs, that makes them one of the best ways a plant can initiate a "green" eco friendly program.

Industry Leading Website
According to Orlowski, "Based on the results of extensive research conducted on a market-by-market, application-by-application basis, we confirmed that plant management and maintenance people want to know about bearing isolators. From there, we adopted an educate and inform marketing approach across the board, and went on to revise our website". (www.inpro-seal.com)

Orlowski continued, "An educated consumer is our best customer. Our objective to have the user of our products fully aware of the benefits obtained through the implementation of our technology. Just revised, www.inpro-seal.com is extremely user friendly, easy to access and incorporates illustrations, charts, diagrams, installations, product photography, documentation, product literature, feature articles, FAQ's, guarantees and much more into a product rich website designed to educate, inform and simplify the bearing isolator selection process. This is not a static website that never changes. Because we maintain it internally, we include up-to-date, useful information as we want visitors to keep coming back on a regular basis".

People Business
Orlowski went on to say that, "The cumulative efforts of our employees, including management, staff and distributors, are key to providing the world class support, product development and enhancement that fuels our growth.    A critical role in these efforts is ongoing training, as we must keep our people up-to-date who in turn keep the customer educated. We not only invest in our products, we also invest in our people".

Very Active Product Development Program
With a laboratory that operates 24/7, backed by extensive field-testing and trials, Inpro/Seal continues to build for the future with new products and enhance existing products that offer measurable bottom line results. Latest development include:

• Air Mizer Series Shaft Seal - Based on direct customer request, the company developed a multi-product line of shaft seals for use where dry particulates and powders are used. In application after application, once installed, breakdown has been virtually eliminated.
• Belt Conveyor Idler/Roller Bearing Isolator - Developed to increase productivity, increase safety and conserve energy where belt conveyors are used for bulk handling. It's non-sparking design makes it ideal for mining applications. It is now recognized by the Mining Safety Health Administration (tag #AP2007-93304, website- www.msha.gov). A new product last year, it has just been nominated for two prestigious awards; one is product of the year and the other is a reader's choice.
• OM 32 Oil Mist Bearing Isolator - In oil mist applications, this is the only known method to permanently solve housekeeping issues and contain and keep stray mist from entering the environment.
• VBXX-MT™- developed to safeguard machine tool spindles, this product provides protection coolant, chips, humidity and heat, that can cause malfunction and expensive, unscheduled downtime. The highest performance is assured with a reverse interface that avoids direct impingement of coolant and chips.
• And More - the only product that protects rolling element bearings on paper machines; IEEE-841 motors use bearing isolators as part of their specification and set the standard for motor protection; every pump manufacturer offers standard product lines based around bearing protection for extended service life.

Better Than Same Day Shipping
Take the recent breakdown of a shaft at one of the worlds largest paper mills, located in the southern U.S. When a large shaft fan (8" x 10') snapped, the production line was shut down, costing them tens of thousands of dollars an hour. While the fan was being repaired, Inpro/Seal received an urgent order at 7 a.m. By 10 a.m. the bearing isolators were on their way to the paper mill.

Another recent example is when a Detroit based auto manufacturer had a line go down when a non-protected machine tool spindle failed. They called Inpro/Seal first thing in the morning, faxed a print of the spindle and dispatched their corporate jet. While in the air, Inpro designed and manufactured exact fit bearing isolators and had them at the airport by the time the jet landed. Production resumed hours later.

Inpro/Seal
Inpro/Seal Company is the originator and the world's number one manufacturer of bearing isolators, used to protect motor and pump bearings, machine tool spindles, turbines, fans, gear boxes, paper machine rolls and many other types of rotating equipment. Additional applications include the sealing, handling, processing, packing and storage of dry particulates, powders and bulk solids.

Of the almost three million bearing isolators delivered, almost all continue to be in operation in process plants worldwide, where end users continue to report significantly reduced operating costs with increased productivity and reliability. Protected bearings have proven to run 150,000 hours (17 years) or more, eliminating the need for costly maintenance and repair. Documented cases show that a plant can more than double the mean-time-between failure (MTBF) and reduce maintenance costs by at least half, with users reporting an extremely high ROI.

Signoff
For more information on Inpro/Seal Bearing Isolators, including "Introduction To Bearing Isolators", "Are Lip Seals Obsolete?" "Cost Justification Worksheet" and the name of the nearest trained distributor contact: Jason Putnam at: Inpro/Seal Company, P.O. Box 3940, Rock Island, Illinois 61204. Phone numbers are: (800) 447-0524 or (309) 787-4971. Fax number is: (309) 787-6114. Website: www.inpro-seal.com or www.bearingisolators.com