PROBLEM:
An engine manufacturer experienced difficulties with finished production testing on engine test cells. This test was used to determine the functional acceptance of new engines prior to shipment. The manufacturer's First Test Acceptance (FTA) rate struggled to stay above 80%. This meant that roughly 20% of all engines produced failed on the first pass through the test cells. Attempting to pinpoint the cause of the failures was difficult since the customer did not collect probable cause data. The consensus was that improperly operating or mis-calibrated test cells caused many of the FTA failures - not the actual engines tested. The cost to re-test a failed engine multiplied by the number of failed tests created a high amount of lost revenue. Every failure not only slowed down shipping, but it also added to the overall cost of the product. The company turned to ATS to get to the root cause of the problem.

THE ATS SOLUTION:
ATS assumed responsibility for maintaining the test cells. A strong focus on root cause analysis as well as a customized approach to the problem allowed ATS to quickly diagnose the situation. The primary reason for the poor FTA was due to the improper maintenance of the test cells. Using teamwork established with the manufacturer, a program of systemized maintenance was soon implemented to improve the success rate on the engine test cells. ATS determined the causes of the failure and embarked on a robust proactive maintenance program. Working with the manufacturer, action was taken to design a preventive maintenance program and improve many processes and procedures associated with testing these engines. These improvements were all implemented while still testing engines.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
The engine test cell performance was elevated to and maintained at 88% FTA. This allowed the engine manufacturer to test 6,500 additional engines per year. The cost savings resulted in $2,925,000 annually. The cost savings were the direct result of more efficient and well-calibrated engine test cells.