Brief account of an “unparalleled success story”: The CT bearing

Just a few years after its market launch, Franke’s particularly quiet CT bearing celebrated a remar­kable anniversary: In 1998, the 5000th unit left the assembly hall in Aalen. A key factor in this immense success was the global company ­Siemens, which was the first customer to rely on Franke’s innovation. As a leading supplier of medical technology, Siemens not only had high demand for whisper-quiet bearings for CT scanners, but also represented an excellent reference customer for the Ostalb-based SME, which was largely unknown outside Germany. And Siemens is a discerning customer, whose changing requi­rements have constantly motivated Franke engineers to deliver top performance. Over the years, a close, constructive and trusting relationship has developed between the Goliath ­Siemens and Franke’s David. The good business relations are also reflected in the fact that Siemens regularly presents Franke with a Supplier Award.

Medical technology manufacturers around the world soon recognised the advantages of Franke’s CT bearings, which developed into a formidable, constantly growing sales driver. In 2014, 25 years after the market launch, Franke delivered its 50,000th CT bearing, equivalent to an average annual production of around 2000 units. Today, around 80 per cent of all CT scanners worldwide are equipped with Franke bearings.

The same applies to baggage scanners at airports. They work on the same principle as CT devices in medicine and also benefit from the advantages of whisper-quiet bearings: Quiet ­running, reliability, long service life, low maintenance and excellent cost-effectiveness.

Annual production of bearings for CT and baggage scanners now stands at 2500 units – and is still growing. Hardly any other innovation has had such a lasting and positive impact on Franke’s international image as the CT bearing, which can rightly and without exaggeration be considered an “unparalleled success story”. //