The Challenge
At Daimler Truck facility in Gaffney, SC chassis for the big delivery and
repair vehicles known as cargo vans are assembled. Before a vehicle can leave
the factory to be shipped to a dealer, it is driven onto a dynamometer. Dynos,
as they are called, test the truck’s acceleration, braking, horsepower and
various functions as part of quality verification. At the Gaffney plant, the
dyno’s control system was antiquated; the components were no longer being
manufactured, and the technology was no longer supported. Although the dyno
was operational, the danger was that if and when it broke, repairing it would
be impossible.
The Approach
Avid Solutions was chosen to replace the control system on the dynamometer,
and ultimately redesigned the system from scratch. The dyno’s testing of each
vehicle required almost 9 minutes. It was the plant’s bottleneck; and thus
determined the production capacity of the facility. In designing a new system,
Avid consultants were able to get the testing time down to 2.5 minutes per
vehicle; so that the dyno was no longer the constraint. During the few months
that the Avid personnel were at the factory, a large order was received and
production surged. To accommodate this unanticipated need of the client
company, Avid consultants installed the new control system during the
off-shifts, at night. The consultants also designed the system so that could
be operated either from a PDA or the traditional computer keyboard. Avid
Solutions has continued to provide follow-up support in the months and years
since the new control system was installed.
The Results
Since this first dynamometer project, Daimler Trucks has turned to Avid
Solutions many times for dyno work at their factories in North Carolina, South
Carolina, Oregon, Canada, and several locations in Mexico. The work has
included replacing unsupported systems, building new units, and installing new
control systems in rebuilt dynos. Avid continues to provide strong support to
the personnel in all these plants, and will be doing further work with Daimler
Trucks, connecting the dynos to the plants’ diagnostic modules.
Caterpillar
Daimler Trucks
Surface Dynamometers
Custom Test Cells
Brake Test Automation
Alternative Fuel Test
Conveyer Automation
Paint Center Automation
Ovens & Dryers
Asset Tracking
Vehicle Alignment
Manufacturing Operations Management
