For instance, Maytag Corporation uses what it calls a LeanSigma approach in manufacturing. This identifies ways to eliminate waste in operations, as well as variations in parts and processes that can undermine product quality. It has been implemented in a Jackson, TN, U.S. plant, transforming a half-mile long, continuous-line dishwasher assembly operation. The line was split into seven separate assembly cells capable of a wide range of product mix capabilities. The effort freed up 43,000 sq ft of manufacturing space while improving productivity by 22 percent. Not least of all, it also resulted in a 55-percent improvement in product quality.

Prior to the company's acquisition of the new gauge, cured film measurement was about the only option available. This meant that the company had to wait 45 min until the parts left the bake oven. Now, the gauge gives instant knowledge. "You can make powder adjustments on the fly, rather than waiting 45 min for final confirmation of any adjustments," says Mr. Morris.

He reports that the gauge works well, and that it required minimal training. With the operating costs for each line, it didn't take too many hours of repaint savings to recoup the investment. That does not even take into account the powder savings incurred by getting the powder setting dialed in correctly much faster than waiting for the first cured parts to become available for inspection.

"We still have a ways to go before I feel we are totally utilizing the one gun we now have, but in time I feel we will probably purchase two more guns so that each of our facilities spraying powder can have access to their own gun," says Mr. Morris.

Safety Combination

One way to maximize testing efficiency is by combining multiple safety tests into one workstation. Slaughter Company (Ardmore, OK, U.S.) says its enhanced line of hipot testers can be interconnected to its enhanced line of ground bond testers to form a complete test system that will do the most commonly performed electrical safety tests - a.c./d.c. hipot, insulation resistance, and ground bond test.

"This allows these tests to be performed through one connection to the Device Under Test (DUT)," observes Tim Collins, sales coordinator. "Being able to perform these tests in one DUT connection will increase efficiency. With one test station and one test connection, products will be moved through the workstation faster.

"Secondly, one DUT connection will yield more accurate results," he continues. "With fewer connections, there are fewer chances for a connection to be made incorrectly. Tests are being performed at the same station, with the same operator, and the same connections. This reduces possible discrepancies that could occur if integrated tests were not performed at one test station."

Dwayne Davis, technical services manager at Associated Research, Inc. (Lake Forest, IL, U.S.), reports seeing more use and integration of multi-function instruments in production lines. "The main advantage of using multi-function instruments is much more productivity for a manufacturer," he explains. "The combination of a.c./d.c. hipot, insulation resistance, and ground bond in a single instrument with one DUT connection will increase throughput by providing an efficient testing process. Multiple connections to the DUT are not required."

In addition to multi-function Dielectric Analyzers, customers can also choose to integrate multiple test instruments with one DUT connection into a workstation, says Mr. Davis. "This setup is usually chosen because the manufacturer already owns some of the necessary equipment and simply wishes to add more test capability. Although upgrading to a multi-function instrument is still the preferred method, using linked testers can be effective in solving certain test application problems," he explains.

As an example, Mr. Davis tells of a small home appliance producer that has an application requiring a functional run test. This is designed to ensure that the manufactured product will perform its intended functions. This test is normally performed after a hipot test.

"The functional run tester, which the manufacturer developed itself, included its own set of test connections in addition to the test connections of the hipot tester," Mr. Davis explains. "After the hipot test, the manufacturer would perform the functional run test without always disconnecting the test leads of the hipot tester. This caused a failure in its hipot testers when a faulty product was tested because line power was fed back into the return circuit of the electrical safety tester.

"The repeated damage to the hipot testers led us to review the application," he continues. "Once the problem was diagnosed, it was determined that it would be eliminated by connecting an external functional run tester to the existing electrical safety testers to allow one DUT connection. This eliminated the connection issues, as the external functional run tester included an internal switching matrix. This automatically disconnected the electrical safety tester before the run test was performed. This manufacturer currently owns several of our RUNCHEK stand-alone functional run testers. This solution saved repair costs for the manufacturer while increasing productivity."

Taking the Leak Out

The solution, he says, is getting the customer to budget and get approval for the higher expenditures required to meet those specifications.

"In addition, as the appliance producers assimilate the leak test function into their manufacturing line as a process gauge, they want to identify causes for failure so that they can improve their manufacturing process," Mr. Grebe continues. "In leak testing, that means identifying the leak location. At this time that requires taking the reject parts out of the manufacturing process and manually re-testing the part to visually identify the leak and keep records. Because of the expense of performing this extra manual test, there has been very little progress in closing this process control loop."