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Frito-Lay Potato Chip Fryer Puts Bearings to the Test

After realizing that their Graphalloy bearings had been going strong for six years without any attention, the Arkansas plant decided to see where else Graphite Metallizing’s graphite/metal alloys could provide maintenance-free support.

Getty Images 184637581 Potato Chips

With more than 23 years making sure the equipment keeps running at the Frito-Lay plant in Jonesboro, Ark., Mike Cook might not be surprised by much anymore. But one thing that did surprise him and his maintenance team last spring was finding that bearings on the paddle wheel of the plant’s potato chip fryer had been running strong for six years without any need for attention.

The Graphalloy pillow block sits at the far end of the shaft, in the fryer.The Graphalloy pillow block sits at the far end of the shaft, in the fryer.Frito-LayAs part of a reshoring initiative back in 2014, the plant had installed a new potato chip fryer, also installing Graphalloy bearings from Graphite Metallizing on the paddle wheel drive shaft. “These paddle wheels operate like the ones you see on a steamboat, only instead of moving water for forward propulsion, the wheels rotate at a specific speed to keep the potato chips in the oil for an exact amount of time,” Cook says. “We aim to get the perfect kind of ‘crispy’; you cannot leave the chips in the oil for too long, or else they will get soggy. Running 6,000 pounds of potatoes through the fryer system per hour means that those bearings on the paddle wheel drive system work non-stop.”

After such a discovery, Cook decided it was time to see where else those Graphalloy bearings could be used in the plant. “When we realized those bearings had been operating for six years without any wear and tear, we thought to ourselves, ‘What other pieces of equipment should we install these bearings on?’” he says.

The plant installed more Graphalloy bearings for the potato chip fryer’s other paddle wheel drive system during its shutdown last October. Its proper fit required some modification of the base, but the engineers at Graphite Metallizing worked with Frito-Lay’s team to manufacture and provide a stainless-steel pillow block.


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“Even though we had to modify the bearing housing a bit to make it work, it’s been a great investment,” comments Alan Cochran, lead mechanic. He will take over as maintenance manager when Cook retires next year. Close to a year after installation of the new bearings, Cochran adds, there was no sign of wear.

The maintenance team also ordered bearings and a stainless-steel flange block for the corn washer. “It was sort of funny because they squeaked when they were first put on, and the operators were concerned about the sound,” Cochran recalls. “We had to explain to them that Graphalloy is a self-lubricating, non-galling bearing material that is engineered to run dry—running on the stainless steel shaft (it’s dry), so the squeaking sound was there initially but would go away as it continued to run.”

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