Background
This case study demonstrates the successful use of the Eastway Safeguard® System in detecting motor bearings wear in a critical homogenizer at a global pharmaceutical facility in North America. The Eastway Safeguard® System is designed for continuous monitoring, enabling multiple failures to be diagnosed and repaired before incurring high costs. Eastway works in close partnership with the client’s Reliability and Maintenance teams, providing real-time insights through regular reports. These reports highlight early warning signs of potential failures, allowing the client to take corrective actions in advance.

Figure 1. Equipment Layout.
Case description
In August 2024, the Eastway Safeguard® System detected a gradual increase in acceleration (g’ RMS) and velocity (mm/s RMS) values, along with abnormal noise at the homogenizer’s motor bearings (see Figure 2). Alert notifications were sent to key personnel and the Eastway team for further investigation.

Figure 2. Homogenizer motor drive end – acceleration (g’ RMS) trend from 01 July 2024 to 13 September 2024.
Analysis
After detecting an increase in trends through the Eastway Safeguard® System, Eastway remote monitoring team conducted a thorough analysis of the motor vibration data. This analysis included examining vibration FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) spectra and time waveform signatures, including the motor’s details as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Machine details
After analysing the data, the Eastway team identified signs of bearing noise-related issues at the motor drive-end. The FFT acceleration (g’ RMS) spectrum waterfall comparison highlighted high-frequency noise increases, along with non-synchronous peaks, strongly suggesting bearing deterioration. The amplitudes of these frequencies were also noted to be intensifying over time, see Figure 3.

Figure 3. Homogenizer motor drive end – FFT acceleration (g’ RMS) spectrum waterfall comparison from July 2024 (front, blue trend) to September 2024 (rear, brown trend) intensifying over time.
Recommended action
Based on this analysis and the noise observed in the motor bearings and given the critical nature of the equipment and its role in the company’s production line, the Eastway team recommended carrying out an inspection of the motor bearings during the next downtime.
Action Taken
As recommended by Eastway, the maintenance team inspected and replaced the motor bearings of the Homogenizer during the scheduled downtime in September 2024, resulting in a significant decrease in vibration values, as well as a reduction in noise and non-synchronous peaks in the high frequency, as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Figure 4. Homogenizer motor drive end – acceleration (g’ RMS) trend from 03 August 2024 to 20 September 2024.

Figure 5. Homogenizer motor drive end – Acceleration (g’ RMS) FFT spectrum comparison on 15 August 2024 (before actions) and 19 September 2024 (post motor bearings replacement).
Results
This case confirms the benefits of using the Eastway Safeguard® System by demonstrating the measurable value of early detection of motor bearing deterioration. This early detection enabled the rapid organization of the necessary tools and components, streamlining the maintenance process. Thus, in addition to identifying problems and dramatically reducing unplanned downtime, this detection also significantly reduced man-hours and avoided equipment costs.
Table 1 highlights the importance of online monitoring. In this case, the early detection of motor bearing issues was identified by the Eastway Safeguard® System, allowing for timely corrective action.

Table 2. Estimated cost savings