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Engineering Lessons for the New Mechanical Engineer

Expect that a understanding, and use, of this Knol will result in you will become more efficient at your job, among your colleagues and managers sooner, and thusly help build the quality of your engineering 'toolbox' better and faster. However....... Some of you reading this will get it immediately Some will leave skeptics - but will give the ideas presented and happily find their jobs easier Some will reject what I present from the start and will never accept it One or two of you will hopefully advance my thoughts further than I 1st of all, it is not any one thing that I learned, but a series of memorable events and unresolved situations that brought me to write this, as they unfolded before my eyes. These events gave me pause and led to my asking "Why did this happen?". Invariably as I stayed in my chosen field, I learned how to observe 'what was transpiring' to a greater and greater degree, and to learn from them. So be it - all I can do is present it.

*** Under Construction *** August 6
A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON MYSELF, AND HOW I THINK
When I started my career as a durability test engineer at General Motors Proving Grounds Noise and Vibration Laboratory in January of 1972 .....

• I did my desk calculations with a pencil, paper and my trusty Post slide rule

• In vehicle high-frequency (less than 20 kHz) data acquisitions were limited to 12 channels recored on a 1" Sabre tape deck, just 2 years before 4 channels was the most that could be recorded
  
• Servo-hydraulics had just been introduced to industry 4 years before by MTS
  
• Strain gage signal conditioning was almost universally tube based instead of solid state
• The 1st computer assigned to me on a project (a Digital PDP 8) had 4 KB memory and 4 KB programing, and cost over 2 times my annual salary

So where do we begin?

A good start is to consider how humans learn to approach a problem, typically an engineer proceeds along a typical thought path:

Who asked for this

What is expected of me

How will I do it

When is it due

Where will it be done

So we plan along the only path we can take yet - the Who, What, How, When, and Where on a project that is sufficient enough for the manager and the customer. Yet this is usually only 1/2 of the thinking processes we will call it: Thought #1) "what we know" in advance of the project. Engineers mostly think in terms of Thought #1 as it is sufficient to start. However if we are to increase our chances of success, minimize re-dos', minimize the stress that accompanies responsibility, and have a sense of accomplishment on a job well done, we engineers have to deal with Thought # 2) what we don't know': The Intangibles. These nebulous items can be thought of as invisible objects to overcome, undefined items to consider outside the rigid Who, What, How, When, and Where' of an assigned project. Intangibles can often always come from two sources, technical changes, and more importantly, personalities. Once you start looking for them they are boundless.

Why care about the Hudson's Bay Company?

Robert Fulghrum explains in his book "Uh-Oh", a by-the-book' Hudson's Bay Company expedition's start, circa 1690. He writes, that it was by experience, thought, & design, that the 1st day's mileage out on an expedition was, quite short. "Why?" you might ask? The answer was simple enough: Plan Ahead - you don't know what you don't know.

Hudson's Bay Company had learned by planning, executing, reporting accurate results, and most importantly the need for critical analysis, hypothesis, correction, feedback etc. The Company organization had learned the highest chance of success' was backed to the hilt with 1) detailed, yet adjustable plans, 2) milestone dates and events, 3) feedback to adjust the course as needed and 4) a person in charge who had the smarts & the authority to make changes.

What did they gain, by not being as efficient as possible': i.e. seeking maximum distance traveled that 1st day out? The answer was simple: if they had managed to forget a crucial item, the effort to return to the start would not be a long one. And it might avoid disaster. They had a different definition of efficiency'. Their definition, of efficiency' maximized the chance of success. It simply was designed to yield a high probability of success rather then, net least amount of money spent. Note: to those in training to be MBA's.

Hudson's Bay Company became the very 1st model of a modern business, as it evolved, and grew. Chartered by King Charles II in 1670, this company later became synonymous with the fur riches of Eastern Canada - had its "stuff" together. They knew it was crucial that all members proceed together. In the 21st century we call it organizational feedback'. What is more it continues today, more than 300 years later, with 70, 000 employees.

Now fast forward 313 years to 1983. In the July 1983 edition of the National Geographic, there is an article entitled, The Automobile- Swing Low Sweet Chariot'. In it, rich automotive history is presented. I wish to point out a couple of facts presented:

1) Japanese car & truck companies spent 2-7 weeks full time in orienting ALL brand-new hires, toward company history, its goals, objectives, and an outline of labor and management.

2) All employees spent some time on the final assembly line.

Can you see how the start of both the 17th century Hudson's Bay Company and the 20th century Japanese auto industry events tie together? They both deemed it critical that all employees start with a common understanding of what was expected from them. It is human nature not to see the Big Picture, to get mired in one's own tasks, and not to see the overall vision of the group and Company.

Is this what you expected for a technical' presentation? Philosophy? You had better become one if you hope to have a productive career in a multi-cultural, multi-nation, multi-competitive business world. The condition of the domestic vehicle development & manufacturing industry is vastly different today than it was when I first started. In January 1972, if you asked an American auto engineer to "Name a foreign car sold in the USA", you would likely get the name "Beetle", a vehicle only only a blip' car bought by iconoclasts, ignored by the Big 3 and its owned European subsidiaries. Or you might get the names Triumph, Morris or BMW and jokes about having a mechanic in the trunk, or Lucas Electrics, or spending the weekend working on the balky car.

Times change and only the most pessimistic could predict where it would end up 35 years later. But change for the worse in the US it did. So each of us needs to change, and learn new non-technical, intangible skills. Now the domestic auto industry is competing with dozens of brand new companies with brand new assembly lines and a much less expensive cost structure.

Yet it is not hopeless situation as we have a collective experience, and a history of innovation to use to our collective advantage. We have to use everything in our book to be competitive, we have to out-think them. At all levels of the organization. Bet you did not learn that in Machine Design 362!

In the nature of a Hudson's Bay Company start, please forgive me if you are already familiar with anything I will present.

Now, I would like to proceed in discussion of durability related technical knowledge skills, and philosophy, you need to be successful in your career and in achieving your personal goals.

The Skier' and The Hub' Working Philosophies

Any time you start something new, and complex, you meet the learning curve'. The learning curve ALWAYS has a high 1st couple of steps. Grasping something new is often difficult. My job as lecturer is to reduce your stress, to help lower the height' of those 1st few steps'. Think of this as our first night out on a new expedition into uncharted lands potentially rich with treasure.

By now you can tell I love analogies, and humor, to explain my thoughts. And so I am going to subject you to 2 more analogies that describe the Big Picture of your career in testing and how it relates to release. Yes you ARE an intimate part of the release process. You may not think about it much, but there are many behind the vehicle you test and many more who will be the ultimate judges.

OK here we go!

The Skier' - Or how you best get your job done - concept thru launch & The Hub' - Or the day-to-day grind of coordinating your team's efforts

I'm going to first discuss my first analogy of The Skier'. It will help you to grasp the obvious thing we old timers already have learned. It is designed to help you come up to speed as quickly as possible. This is all about continuous improvement. It is about each of you voluntarily squeezing as much out of each and every one of you as possible. Squeezing' - by thinking about how to improve your job. You see that is the trick, how to create spare time to think while on The Skier's' path. The workplace environment at TCE requires you, the release engineer: to act as The Skier' passing through many gates in a pre-determined race.

Please let me define several traits of every great Skier':

1. You see, and know fully where the Gates' are ahead

2. You chart a path between the Gates' as smoothly as possible

3. You decide to adjust paths as required

4. You do it on thriftier skis than you did it the last time

5. You do it in shorter time

6. You communicate your path clearly to others

7. You determine when you need to ask for help

Remember: to win', you pass through many Gates, on the preset path, by a specified time.

To those still confused, I highly recommend you do a little background reading on, W. Edwards Deming's life, and by all means, do read Peter F. Drucker's Opus "The Practice of Management."

While you are skiing through those Gates', you have a different, more detailed job. That job is simply: how do you get members of completely different teams to do your work - efficiently?

In acting as the hub' of a hypothetical wheel in an ever changing world, only you (and your supervisor) can look outward' and see' all the individual team projects - the individual spokes' connected to the hub': 1) design, 2) design analysis, 3) laboratory test, 4) proving grounds verification, 5) different suppliers, 6) final assembly, etc.

My analogy is to imagine this spoked' wheel, with each team/'spoke' being loaded as it rolls along. The hub rolls through gates' to a global timing plan with documented standards (Gates) met. Each is loaded on a different spoke - a different team - as the vehicle proceeds toward launch.

Remember: each spoke', i.e. each team task, has Goals and Objectives that may be at least slightly different than yours.

Developing a vehicle has many, many teams' involved, yet no single organization has the responsibility for cost/weight/function/reliability as does the release group. Simply put, you are at the mercy of many. How do you lead each team?

How will you accomplish successfully integrating all the parties? I ask as likely was not taught as a course in school. In school you were likely in competition with others (except when you had a lab partner). Now you have to move to a different mindset: one of cooperation in teamwork. Much like an assigned lab partner, you need to learn from each other.

You now live in a tough world during tough times. Your job is to prepare yourself as best as possible for what lies ahead, as quickly as possible.

Are there any Questions on what has been covered? Feel free to ask, now. Please remember: the only ignorant question is the one not asked.

The Basics:

cost (Rule of 10's), rework

budgets,

timing,

quality/durability/reliability,

keeping goals & objectives in front of you

record keeping, meetings - agendas, minutes, 1 off assignments.

Keeping your supervisor informed

The Intangibles:

4 personality types - how to talk and listen to each,

what happens with lack of feedback,

what your gut is telling you',

what your vacation time is all about

Technical Issues:

DFMEA

DVP&R

How to read

Tailored vs. Bogey testing

CEM

Metal fatigue

SPC

Data acquisition

Analytics

Laboratory testing

Data reduction for bench tests

Environment reproduction

Considerations in fixture design

Sign off meetings

Monitoring the test

Close out meeting

Proving grounds testing

Customer usage patterns

If you can master, and integrate both, you will thrive. If not, woe be unto you'. These promises are confidently made no matter what. No matter how great changes in technology or process affect your job. It is how you stay fresh and more importantly, productive, in your every changing job.

The Course

We are all here today to focus on one word: improvement. We engineers tend to rely on technology to make our technical lives better. We are always looking forward to a new software release or a new piece of equipment to "fix" or "improve" our daily routine.

That is the wrong place to be looking for improvement, since your best fix' comes from within yourself.

Think back to the first day on your very first engineering job. If you were like us you were happy to get to the end of the day without wrecking something or injuring yourself.

You were very happy if you didn't say something that showed how little you really knew about the job for which you had been hired. Unless your ego was very, very big, when you got to the end of that day you were grateful they had not detected how unprepared you really were and that they had not fired you on the spot.

You vowed to learn as much as you could about your job as fast as possible.

Now we want you to imagine that after that first week you had magically acquired all of the skills that your toolbox contains today:

How much more effective would you have been on your job?

How would your peers have viewed you?

How would your supervision have viewed you?

We're sure you would have been viewed as the next Sir Isaac Newton, correct?

Unfortunately, our personal and technical growth is gradual and not nearly as obvious, yet it is the ONLY thing that we have under our direct control. We do not use that first day as a reference point anymore because it is so far away. We do not think about how few skills we had in our toolbox that first day do we?

But we all need to periodically inventory our toolbox' and consciously add to it. That is what this document is about.

LET'S GET STARTED

Why Engineers Need a Real World Durability Philosophy

We are going to start with the career tale of a young engineer. It starts several decades ago when this engineer was fortunate enough to be hired straight out of college by the General Motors Proving Grounds Noise and Vibration Laboratory.

This brand new engineer didn't know it, but he was fortunate to be hired there, as over the last 60 years, the "Noise Lab" has developed a very quiet reputation for skill, innovation and technical excellence. The Noise Lab was "State of the Art."

However, along with the reputation for technical excellence, it had also acquired another reputation not quite so favorable. In the divisions that made the cars, trucks, refrigerators, helicopter engines, tanks, off road construction machinery and locomotives, the Noise Lab had a reputation for being both physically and emotionally disconnected from what was happening "in the trenches". In the opinion of its customers, NVL could not be counted on for timely completion of projects assigned. No one ever discounted the QUALITY of the work; it was just that deadlines were not always met, for what the employees thought were valid technical reasons. Employees were unconcerned about this. With NVL being assigned to Engineering Staff rather than a division, supervision from Engineering Staff and not the divisions gave reviews and raises.

Over the next six years this engineer worked on a variety of projects, some research, some developmental and some potential vehicle recalls. As he worked, he learned from his mistakes and grew in technical expertise. All projects received the same thorough attention, no matter how long they took to complete. However, some that were expected to take months, took a year or longer.

After leaving the NVL, this now somewhat seasoned engineer went to work as a test engineer for Harley Davidson both as a challenge and to learn what is was like to work "in the trenches".

He quickly learned to be careful what you wish for when he was told, "The final assembly line is shutting down if you don't fix this problem. You have until the next Friday." He very abruptly found out there is a large required adjustment in thinking when placed in that situation. He learned Rule #1 .

TIME IS NOT YOUR CUSTOMER'S BEST FRIEND...

AND IT IS NOT YOURS EITHER

The Current Typical Auto / Truck

Design, Tooling, Development and Validation

Timing Schedule

CURRENT GENERIC VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT TIMING PLAN

Year Four Three Two One Zero

Month j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a

Weeks before volume production 215 211 207 203 198 194 189 185 181 176 172 168 163 159 154 150 146 141 137 133 128 124 120 115 111 107 102 98 94 89 85 80 76 72 68 63 59 55 50 46 41 37 33 28 24 20 15 11 7 2 -2

Concept level CONCEPT DESIGN CONCEPT TOOLING vb PHYSICAL TEST & DEVELOPMENT

Early

Prototype PROTOTYPE DESIGN TOOLING vb PHYSICAL TEST & DEVELOPMENT

Late Prototype NEAR FINAL DESIGN TOOLING vb PHYSICAL TEST & DEVELOPMENT

Early

Pilot FINAL DESIGN PRODUCTION TOOLING vb

Late

pilot vb

Production

launch vb

Data acquisition VIRTUAL ONLY PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL VIRTUAL PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL

Inertial simulation MAYBE PROTO SIM PROD DESIGN

SIM AUDIT SIM

The Future Ground Vehicle

Design, Tooling, Development and Validation

Timing Schedule

FUTURE VEHICLE DEVELOPMENT TIMING PLAN

Year Four Three Two One Zero

Month j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a s o n d j f m a m j j a

Weeks before volume production 215 211 207 203 198 194 189 185 181 176 172 168 163 159 154 150 146 141 137 133 128 124 120 115 111 107 102 98 94 89 85 80 76 72 68 63 59 55 50 46 41 37 33 28 24 20 15 11 7 2 -2

Concept level CONCEPT LEVEL DESIGN

Pilot

level PILOT LEVEL DESIGN PILOT & LONG PRODUCTION TOOLING vb PILOT LEVEL PHYSICAL TEST & DEVELOPMENT vb

Production

launch DESIGN

CLEAN UP PRODUCTION TOOLING vb

Data acquisition VIRTUAL ACQUISITIONS PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL

Inertial simulation CONCEPT LEVEL

VIRTUAL TEST & DEVELOPMENT PILOT LEVEL VIRTUAL TEST & DEVELOPMENT 1 ST PHYSICAL AUDIT SIM

LET'S GET STARTED

Time Needed For Durability Evaluation Tools

Task Name duration 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Component FEA

CAD to model 3 days

model to analysis 7 days

Digital D/A

Systems model construction 4 wks

systems analysis 4 wks

vehicle model construction 8 wks

vehicle analysis 4 wks

Component Bench tests

data reduction - 1 wk

test design - 3 wks

test set up - 3 wks

test execution - 1 wk

sample #2 same setup & data 1.5 wks

System & Inertial Tests

data gathering 12 wks

data reduction - 4 wks

test iteration - 4 wks

test sample set up - 1.5 wks

test execution - 4 wks

sample #2 same setup and data 6 wks

PG Tests 150, 000 CEM

Early Prototypes 1 day

vehicle build - 6 wks

test execution - 30 wks

Late Prototypes

vehicle build - 4 wks

test execution - 20 wks

Pilot Vehicles

vehicle build - 5 days

test execution - 15 wks

Why Engineers Need a Real World Durability Philosophy

Four years later, the more skilled, more seasoned and more customer oriented engineer had learned a great deal about what it takes to keep a customer happy:

He learned that is was important to deliver on time what was promised

He learned to keep the customer well informed about progress to date

He learned to keep his manager well informed about progress to date, especially if it was not going well

Still, sometimes projects did not go as planned. The still youngish engineer learned that if the manager first and customer second were kept informed about significant problems as they arose, the customers felt they had control of options that they could exercise.

He still had a lot to learn. At both GM & HD, he had worked as internal staff support in organizations that were well-equipped facilities.

Poor 30-s something engineer, he was still "wet behind the ears" when it came to understanding the cost of testing.

He got an inkling of the cost of testing when HD was near bankruptcy in 1981. He had been performing impact testing on wheels where a shaped object is slammed into a grounded wheel to simulate a severe pot-hole or curb strike. Back then if you wanted a permanent record of very quick events an engineer recorded them with a light-beam optical oscillograph. A mirror deflected a light beam in proportion to the transducer signal on to silver sensitive Visa-corder' paper made by Kodak.

HD had been placed on a cash only basis with its vendors. The engineer was sent down with petty cash to buy some paper for his test. He choked when he found out that each roll cost more than his hourly gross income. His test team had been burning through the $12 a roll paper like pine wood on a roaring bonfire. He was still learning, but now it was Rule #2: the cost of testing.

Soon after, he went to work at a new contract test lab called Structural / Kinematics where the principles behind Rule #2 were reinforced everyday. . .

SOME HOW IT ALWAYS GETS BACK TO MONEY . . .

. . . . AND THE CUSTOMER'S PERCEPTION OF THE VALUE

OF THE TEST RESULTS THEY RECEIVED IN RETURN

Typical Costs Associated With Evaluation Tools

Typical Costs Associated With Evaluation Tools

LET'S GET STARTED:

What a Testing Toolbox Contains

A skilled mechanic will tell you it is NEVER the tools in their "toolbox" that do the work efficiently, it is the knowledgeable and skilled use of those tools that get the job done correctly and economically. The "tools" in your testing toolbox are the same.

Whether a test is one-off or follows a pre-written procedure, the proper development and execution of a test is based on the conscious or unconscious formulation of a personal durability philosophy and an understanding of what techniques are used and when. We would prefer that it be a conscious decision.

This time will be spent discussing our tools', the processes and the reasons for testing that will lead to you consciously developing a personal testing philosophy.

Having a personal testing philosophy is important since each product with potential durability issues is unique. There is no standard formula for success.

What is a Test?

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "test" as follows:

Etymology: Middle English, vessel in which metals were assayed, cupel, from Middle French, from Latin testum earthen vessel: akin to Latin testa earthen pot, shell.

Date: 14th century

A) chiefly British : CUPEL (1) : a critical examination, observation, or evaluation : TRIAL; specifically: the procedure of submitting a statement to such conditions or operations as will lead to its proof or disproof or to its acceptance or rejection (2) : a basis for evaluation.

Warranty claims

Personal contact with service managers and fleet owners

For example, they know from warranty databases and conversation with service managers and fleet owners if 2, 1 or 0 sets of shock absorbers are worn out per year by a typical pick up truck driven by a 95% severity corn farmer in South Dakota.

Virtual test engineers contribute by providing:

Preliminary engineering information from simple virtual vehicles and system models

Loads at interfaces

Displacements

Accelerations

Global kinematic & compliance behavior

Required section properties

The greatest hopes (and management expectations) are in the potential contribution of the virtual test engineer: to provide sufficient early detailed reliable engineering information that will reduce or eliminate lengthy concept and soft-tooled engineering release phases.

The design team puts all this together to decide on the Bill of Material and most importantly, how much will design proposal "A" weigh and cost to design, tool, manufacture, buy, and develop vs. design proposals "B", "C" & "D"?

The leading design candidate emerges and is pursued as design intent.

Step 4: Analysis and Optimization

Step 4 is where desired vs. probable (predicted) performance is examined in detail. The leading design proposal is detailed and analyzed to see how well it meets the cost, weight, packaging, manufacturing and durability targets set earlier.

A Continuous State of Flux

The potential capability of CAE products is why this step and the previous one are the focus of the chaotic on-going battle over product development long-term strategy, short-term tactics and reduced budgets.

Modern integrated design and analysis software suites allow this phase to be pulled forward into Step 3 and sometimes may substitute for some of the tasks that used to be performed in Step 5. Remember that ANY reduction in test properties goes straight to the reduction of the program's budget. This in turn reduces the amortized cost of development over each product sold.

Examples

Instead of using old data or waiting for a data from a proving grounds data acquisition, the virtual test engineer creates shock velocity history for the virtual vehicle traversing a proving grounds durability route. This information can then be compared to historical shock absorber test data from previous tests. This helps answer the question if the new shock will have the required durability.

The same virtual vehicle predicts tie rod loads too. This is then compared to historical tie rod end test data and future life is predicted. Will the predicted post test end-play on this new vehicle be .035", .020" or .005"?

Step 5: Testing and Evaluation

Step 5 is where all the assumptions and previous 3 Steps are proven correct or incorrect, where desired vs. actual performance is evaluated

The term "testing" is a term so very broad term that covers a multitude of seemingly unrelated tasks and technologies. We will discuss the breadth of the term before narrowing our discussion to the tools with which we will commonly interact.

The roots of 700 year old word "test" or older Latin "testum" gives clues to branches of the testing family that we never even see but are important to the foundation of our work.

Testing starts with studies on atomic level, how atoms and molecules interact. Here virtual and physical test worlds begin to interact. What is proven mathematically through equations and statistics is examined with delicate and sensitive equipment. This branch of science was limited as everything was mere conjecture before the equipment that could view this realm was invented.

Step 5: Testing and Evaluation

Up one step from the atomic level, testing becomes material or metallurgical, the real roots of the word "test" where the composition and chemical properties are assayed. All the properties that we first learned as engineers: percent iron; grain size; and ductile iron nodularity all have their roots going back over that 700+ year time span.

One more step up and we begin to talk about the field of applied mechanics where more familiar tests generate the properties from which we structural engineers directly draw: modulus of elasticity; cyclic yield point and thermal conductivity among many others.

These are the values that drive our virtual and physical test worlds. Theoretical and Applied Mechanics is where the realm of basic science and structural engineering meet and interact.

Neither virtual nor physical test engineers can afford to be ignorant of what this field of study has to offer. This is especially true of those that would consider themselves durability, structural and reliability engineers.

Finally we get to the field of engineering that includes what most of what us would call ourselves, structural engineers.

This field was formerly exclusively conducted using real parts. But with even a simple component durability test costing $5, 000 and a complex systems level test costing 50 times that, there is a great deal of on-going effort to develop and evaluate components and systems "virtually" on the computer.

Step 5: Testing and Evaluation

Those not-so-simplifying-assumptions

As with physical testing, there are many critical technical issues that determine the accuracy and usefulness of virtual tests.

Uncertainty arises from

Required simplifying assumptions with boundary conditions - especially load cases

Non-linearity inherent in sprung - unsprung kinematic dynamic systems

Differences resulting from "as designed" and "as made" parts, especially stampings and assemblies - thinning and assembly pre-stress.

Suspension, power train and body systems by definition have boundary conditions that effect results downstream comprised of loads and deflections being transferred through elastomers over a fairly wide energy amplitude and frequency spectrum. These simplifying assumptions yield results that may, or may not, correlate to actual results.

Just like experimentally acquired data, experienced review is required before accepting the results of the virtual test.

What types of physical tests are performed in this step?

If a new shock is now available to proof test, the first question the test engineers ask themselves is, "Which bench tests will be useful in correlating to anticipated customer service, and what will be the predicted in-service failure mode?"

Remember: the manufacturer wants the simplest, quickest and least expensive bench test possible at any point in the development process.

This drives the need for "layered" or "gated" testing. A series of increasingly complex tests that will test, and correlate, the materials that will go into the design, the rod seal by itself, the shock by itself and finally the shock as mounted in the suspension system and driven on the proving grounds. ALL of the materials and individual parts of the shock absorber need to pass the simpler tests before they are subjected to more rigorous (and expensive) tests.

Step 5: Testing and Evaluation

Consider the seal on the shock, just one of several parts that comprise the shock absorber assembly.

Material evaluations The first tests on the shock seal evaluate the materials to be used. Often done by the manufacturer of the material, these tests are simple, quality control tests. They include shear strength, durometer and chemical composition, tests that are measurements of the basic properties and consistency of the product. Many of these tests follow ASTM or other industry guidelines.

First simple component tests Once the material has been checked, the purchaser of the bulk material, here the shock manufacturer, has their own tests that they use to evaluate their sub-assemblies. Often these test are proprietary, as the tests may reflect evaluation of technically related issues upon which the company operates.

Such tests may include evaluation of the lip design and the rod finish in its anticipated operational environment, including measuring the friction resistance, the resistance to heat, corrosion and pitting of the plating on the rod. These tests are typically designed to be as simple and quick as possible.

Results are typically compared to past performance and evaluated against the anticipated requirements of the new design. Those new requirements come from calculation, virtual testing and data acquisitions on the concept test properties.

Assembly tests After the seal has been designed and tested it is assembled along with the other individual parts into a shock absorber and bench tested as an assembly, usually by its manufacturer. This component or assembly testing is done as many if not all of the individual parts effect each other. And even though the manufacturer understands its product and how it was designed and tested as individual parts, it will be the first time they need to function as a unit.

The shock may be placed into a test fixtures that will measure the force-velocity characteristics, the velocity vs. heat generated, the static seal friction vs. temperature, the durability of the valving and the fatigue of the attachments to the suspension and frame.

Performance and durability characteristics are checked against what was requested by the vehicle manufacturer. Data is reported.

Step 5: Testing and Evaluation

After this point is reached the vehicle manufacturer takes over primary evaluation of the shock absorber. The component manufacturer concentrates on resolving issues that relate to deviations from the specification and prepares to build the product at assembly line rates while still maintaining cost and quality.

Now the vehicle manufacturer has started large scale durability testing and evaluations including:

Proving Grounds durability testing

R&H and NVH refinement

Laboratory durability simulations using;

Four-post, steering, full and .5 vehicle simulators.

When the testing and evaluation has proceeded to this phase, the development costs begin to rise quickly and dramatically because a fleet of expensive hand built prototype vehicles is involved and large sums of money for hard tooling are being committed.

A non-durable component design can shut down an entire test fleet. It has happened in the past. We want to prevent it from happening in the future.

A fleet shut down means hundreds of people cannot perform their job as planned. That tends to make the vehicle manufacturer unhappy which in turn obviously increases the pressure on the supplier to fix the problem.

That is why it is so important to have in advance simple test procedures that correlate to the proving grounds: to both minimize the chance of fleet shut down and if it does somehow happen to have tools to quickly evaluate fixes.

Without a correlated test, if test fleet problems do begin to occur, initially no one has any concrete idea what to do to fix the problem and even if they did, they have no way to prove they have a solution because the bench tests do not correlate.

This means that you, the durability engineer, need to be inquisitive about how the test procedures you are assigned to conduct correlate to customer usage.

Step 6: Production Release and Manufacturing

It is one thing to produce a design that works as a prototype; it is another to have a design that will tolerate the production variances that naturally accompany multiple part sources, tooling that wears and multiple assembly lines.

Consider the seal on the shock once more. As production volume ramps up on the shock assemblies, of course so does the volume of the raw materials and the individual components.

The durability and operational performance of the shock, and the vehicle, depends on very little or no part-to-part variation at volume production rates. It is necessary to have manufacturing processes that do not vary enough to cause problems with the components. That means that production tolerances are controlled and monitored. Monitoring implies a simple measurement or test. In turn that implies minimal cost, effort and immediacy of results.

What the bulk material supplier tests

Monitoring usually starts with material or metallurgical measurements like chemical composition, temperature, volume, weight, density, time etc. Periodically the next higher level of quality control testing is performed also. This often includes the same shear strength, durometer and chemical composition tests done at the beginning of the entire development process.

What the shock manufacturer tests

Once the material has been checked and certified, the purchaser of the bulk material, here the shock manufacturer, has its own in process tests that it uses to evaluate its components and sub-assemblies. This is done because as tooling wears and new material suppliers are added, the process will need to be adjusted to keep the components within required tolerances. These tests are typically designed to be as simple and quick as possible. Such tests may include evaluation of the lip profile and the rod's RMS finish in its anticipated operational environment, including measuring the friction resistance, the resistance to heat, corrosion and pitting of the plating on the rod. Results are typically compared to past performance on an on-going basis. Trend analysis of the data often allows the scheduling of machine maintenance as needed instead of by calendar.

Step 7: Review and Improvement

No design ever made is "perfect". Processing and material improvements always leave room for improvement during the life cycle of a product.

Even the venerable Volkswagen Beetle introduced prior to WWII is a case in point.

To the casual eye it looked the same year after year. But engineers and other manufacturers knew the vehicle was improved and cost reduced every year of its manufacture.

It is a remarkable achievement that a vehicle introduced less than 10 years after the last Model "T" rolled off the assembly line continued until the late 1990's. That is a product life span of 65 years.

And as a testament to the principles behind Step 7: Review and Improvement, by the time the original Volkswagen Beetle went out of production there were very few part numbers that matched the original one.

Wherever possible Volkswagen used simple tests to evaluate the proposed improvements and cost reductions. What made these improvements possible was that the test engineers knew how their tests correlated to real world durability.

Do understand that the Beetle was not without its flaws: corrosion was a problem; there was never a decent heater or defroster developed and there were some safety issues. But all in all, the vehicle was deemed to get better every year and every generation. It was only made obsolete in the United States by the American Federal safety and emissions laws of the early 1970's.

The proof of its robustness is that manufacture and sale continued in Mexico as an inexpensive entry-level vehicle until the new Beetle finally replaced it.

Successful Testing: Part 1

Getting Started

Deciding you need a "Toolbox"

Every day engineers get both solicited and unsolicited feedback on the decisions that we make and on those decisions that others make on our behalf.

Obviously, we ALL prefer positive feedback.

Why would anyone choose to not spend a little time maximizing the probability of the feedback being good news and minimizing the possibility of it being bad news?

Yet, that is precisely what most of us do, day in and day out. We are swept along with the scheduled daily tasks, leaving the details to others .. until the bad feedback occurs.

Then we drop into a focused mode where we drop the routine events and deal with the problem until we feel it is resolved. That may take a minute, an hour, a day, a week or a month. Other tasks are put on hold or skipped, creating another set of problems. What is worse, sometimes that same bad feedback returns and keeps coming back to haunt us tomorrow, the next week and the next month.

Are you relating?

It is not fun is it?

Is that what you want your job to be like for the next 25 years?

We doubt it.

Successful Testing: Part 1

Getting Started

How Big is Your Toolbox?

If you do not have a plan, you ARE planning to fail. We can not emphasize enough the importance of starting with a solid work plan that includes a clear understanding of:

What are the customer's expectations, including: (but not limited to):

Technical content

Budget

Timing

What are your management's expectations of you, including (but not limited to):

Satisfying the customer

Meeting the budget

Anticipating and resolving problems

Seeking additional help early when issues arise

What resources will be allotted

A list of technical tasks required to meet expectations

Cross reference that with the talents and responsibilities of those that will act on your behalf

How to maximize your strengths and counteract your weaknesses

If any efficiency is to be achieved and grief minimized, it is imperative that the project leader has a fundamental understanding of the concepts above.

Successful Testing: Part 2

Planning

Your First Tool

Please note that we are not giving you a formula or a specific procedure to follow because deciding how YOUR tools and talents can best get the job done within the framework of the organization is part of building a personal test philosophy.

However, even accounting for individuality, there are some overriding philosophical guidelines and understandings that every effective person has.

Your first tool: Planning the Plan

The first step in developing an efficient test is to develop an overall plan of attack. Whether or not they realize it, everyone develops a unique planning style that works for him or her: all effective approaches have common elements:

They define in writing the tasks it will take to complete the project

They focus on where they wish to be by the planned end date task by task

They have learned the unique talents of all the team members and how they can be used to complete the assignment ahead of schedule

They consciously or unconsciously work backwards from the end date

Question: "How do you eat an elephant?

Answer: "One bite at a time."

All massive successful projects have used the basic premise that you can do anything that does not defy the laws of physics, if you can define and execute, step by step the building blocks needed to get there. Therefore, you also need to be building block or "task" oriented.

Fit all the tasks together and you have a completed project. The elephant is eaten.

How obvious and easy it is in theory

How difficult it is to accomplish smoothly in real life

Successful Testing: Part 3

Quality Manual Procedures & The Big Picture

The Company Quality Manual is a basic tool in your Toolbox

A test plan is not the same as a Quality Manual. Quality Manual procedures are one tool used to efficiently manage inter-group interactions, why paperwork gets filled out, what gets filled out, when it gets filled out, who fills it out and how it gets routed. We will not dwell on their use as you have been trained on them.

Do remember - Quality Manuals are NEVER, NEVER a substitute for your fundamental understanding of the "Big Picture".

The "Big Picture" Tool & Why it is so Powerful

Remember the old expression about "Not being able to see the forest for the trees?" Have you ever taken a long hike in the woods where there was not an obvious trail? How did you navigate? Map? Compass? Stumble along? Didn't you wish you had a mobile cherry picker that you could get into whenever you wanted and rise above the treetops to get your bearings and confirm your path? However, can you also imagine trying to stay extended far above that forest floor while driving the cherry picker safely on your chosen path?

If it was not obvious, your technical skills are analogous to the physical walking along the path, and the view from the cherry picker is the "Big Picture" tool. Neither tool is sufficient on it's own to efficiently traverse the woods.

Being able to see the forest and the trees', that is to say employing both a technical tool skill set and the "Big Picture" tool is your best way to avoid both quicksand and a dead end.

It is not, in the vernacular; "covering your posterior." Adding content to a project without knowing why is wasting money and does little good.

On the other hand, a few well-chosen additions to a test plan can have enormous benefits and make you all look like geniuses.

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

Why You Want to Develop Your "Big Picture" Tool

Recognizing and keeping 1 (one) simple fact in mind while planning the test is the first step along the path to having a working Big Picture Tool.

That one fact is this: future credibility is ENHANCED when you can say "Oh, we anticipated that eventuality and accounted for it by doing such and such." Conversely it is ALWAYS REDUCED when it is later discovered that a test was incorrectly thought-out or executed and you repeat the words "Oh, I didn't think of that."

The current product development business philosophy is to reduce budgets and to increase risk, and since you are in their toolbox, it's YOUR risk. Of course they don't really expect failure they expect you to find a way to make it work.

There is little reason to think this business situation will be getting better in the foreseeable future, especially with less time and fewer financial resources available for new product development cycles. You need to adapt to this new environment if you and your company are to succeed.

Remember: One definition of insanity (or stupidity) is where a person repeats an event time-after-time expecting a result that differs from the one they have been getting.

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

So how do you develop your "Big Picture" tool?

Lets start by developing a checklist of some of the characteristics of every proper test plan and a properly executed test.

Most importantly, a proper test plan makes sense to the product

A proper test plan makes sense to the customer

A proper test plan makes sense to the test team

On a proper test team everyone knows both their responsibilities and those of the other team members

On a proper test team everyone knows the strengths and limitations of their skill sets and those of the other team members

The boundary conditions of the test are proper

The test fixturing is set up properly

The test property is installed properly

The measurement systems are set up properly

The control systems for the application of the environment are set up properly

Proper project kick-off and sample sign-off meetings are held

A proper Response Implementation Procedure (RIP) is drawn up prior to the test being started

The test is monitored properly while being conducted

A proper close-out meeting is held

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

The list on the previous page are mostly things or ideas you can tangibly grasp. You can evaluate a test plan, you can review the fixturing and you can conduct a sample sign-off meeting.

What may not be so apparent are the "why" and "how" BEHIND those tasks: issues that lead us to make the decisions, to set up the procedures, to ask the questions and to organize the project the way we do.

Our personal and team insight of the limits of people and technology is what allows us to organize and execute projects effectively.

So much of success is based not on how sophisticated and clever a technology tool is but how the humans wield it. The same model Craftsman screwdriver is being used simultaneously on the Space Shuttle fleet and to pry lids off old paint cans.

Our "Big Picture" tool needs to identify and account for the intangible things that underlie the non-technical aspects of the project-related decisions we make.

These include:

TIME CONSTRAINTS

TEAM DYNAMICS

TECHNOLOGY CONSTRAINTS

BUSINESS CONSTRAINTS

COMMUNICATION CONSTRAINTS

INDIVIDUAL JOB VIEWPOINT

INTERPERSONAL DYNAMICS

HOW OUR BRAIN IS WIRED

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

TIME CONSTRAINTS

Time, or to be precise, the lack of it, is the 800 pound gorilla in all projects. It is going to overshadow every decision made. In most cases, it dominates decision making more than does the budget. Money may always be added to complete a job, but time is not so easily added. Every release engineer knows once the build date for Job#1 is fixed, it takes an ugly set of circumstances to move it back.

Think of every new product development as a multi-year relay race with hundreds of teams entered. For you to win' all teams must win' by cross the finish line simultaneously.

If just one member of one team falls far behind, the entire rest of that team's relay members are compelled to make up the time lost.

What can you do to address the time constraints?

We have a suggestion we know will help.

FRONT LOAD DIFFICULT OR UNCERTAIN TASKS

Remember your task list? We are sure there are some tasks on it that you believe hazy' or difficult and are not sure what will be needed to execute them. The tendency is to put them off and address the ones you can address. WRONG!

Do EVERYTHING reasonable to front-load the tasks because:

Time lost is always made up inefficiently and with greater stress on the team

Tasks done in a rush are ripe for mistakes

The majority of tasks will take longer than you think they will

Time lost is gone forever

The value of all work completed after the deadline diminishes quickly

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

TEAM DYNAMICS

We have some questions for each of you to think about. Think back to your graduation, what were you feeling besides relief? It's guaranteed that you said to yourself, "I did it", with a very strong emphasis on "I". So we ask a question; how much of your grade in college was directly determined by other people's efforts? How much of it was by your own efforts?

After all,

You were the one that got up and went to class every day

You were the one that scheduled your time

You determined your priorities

You were the one that took the notes in class

You were the one that did the homework

You were the one who took the tests

You were the one who ultimately determined where you ranked in your class

You may or may not have been involved in study groups and you may or may not have had a lab partner along the way. We dare say that your success in college was at least 90 percent due to your own individual actions.

Now we ask the same question about your current assignments: How much of what you are working on is being done by your hand alone?

Did you set up the test hardware personally?

Did you write that FEA code you are using?

Did you install the test sample?

Did you design and stamp the part?

Did you design the press that stamped the part?

Did you pour the steel and roll the sheet?

Did you calibrate the transducers?

Did you design the accelerometers you use?

Did you install the computer network where the data is kept?

Did you change the hydraulic oil in the pump system last month?

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

TEAM DYNAMICS II

We could go on and on but won't. Face it. Your achievements are no longer solely determined by your efforts.

Just like your plans to graduate from college you are still faced with goals, some are obvious some are not. You may be nominally in charge of a program or a project, but by any measure, your individual contributions to the success of the project are far, far, less than when you were studying for that grade and that degree.

Examine the time sheets on the projects you worked on the last few weeks. The time you spend on a project under your control will be smaller and smaller as a percentage of the total effort the older you get and the more responsibility you are given.

Think about it, you went from a situation in college where you were contributing nearly 100 percent of the effort and was nearly 100 percent responsible for the success of what you were trying to do. Now you are in a situation where you contribute 5 percent or less of the total time, yet you are still held responsible for the project's success.

How have you prepared yourself to handle that complete reversal of control?

Despite the fact that 95 percent or more of the work is being done by others, many, if not all of us, still emotionally feel that a Herculean effort on our part can still make a difference in the last minute success of the project. Just like when you would pull an all-nighter to finish a term paper or cram for a test.

We ask, "Is that reasonable?"

In this completely different environment, isn't it reasonable to think that a different approach must be used if you are to be successful in your projects?

Isn't it also obvious that the success of your assigned projects is going to be highly dependent on the success of those both formally and informally assigned to your project?

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

TEAM DYNAMICS III

To make others successful you need to clearly convey your assignment and your ideas of how it should be best accomplished. When you only had to convince your professor that you knew what you were doing, it was much simpler. Your answers were right or wrong and you were graded accordingly. It was pretty much black or white, you knew what you were doing, or you did not.

Now you operate in an environment where you do not know it all, you are not expected to know it all, but you are still expected to get the job done.

You are now dependent upon the knowledge and skills, that is to say the Toolboxes, of others. Not only do they have a different set of tools their toolbox, even if some of the tools are the same, they may use them differently.

You had better learn what motivates other people, how they think, how to resolve both the anticipated and those inevitable unanticipated problems, and how to communicate effectively with those with whom you work. You will be asking them to contribute to the success of what you're trying to accomplish.

Compliance, Cooperation and Commitment are three entirely different kinds of work relationships that will never appear on an organizational chart or a weekly progress report. They are examples of the intangible strengths and weaknesses of teams and of individuals.

Which type of team member relationship would you rather have?

If you believe as we do, that Commitment is the working relationship with the greatest potential for success, we have some suggestions.

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

TEAM DYNAMICS IV

What can you do to maximize the smoothness of the projects to which you are assigned? What can you do to minimize the friction and stress?

Believing in, and promoting, a shared fate is a great start. It took millennia for humans to accept the fact that the universe did not revolve around our Sun. Likewise the universe does NOT revolve around each of us. Why then do we have the tendency to act like it does? We often give mental lip service to others that go about their jobs. Friction occurs when we find out that someone doesn't want to approach their aspects of our job the way we think it should be done. Tempers flare and resentment builds. You avoid them and they avoid you.

Even if you both can agree "You do your job and I'll do mine" it WILL NOT be efficient and WILL NOT minimize the potential for error. Both of you need to agree to a different working model. That model is Shared Fate.

Take World War II for example. The decade before, the war was filled with rancor between the two American political parties. The split between the haves' (management Republicans) and have-nots' (blue collar Democrats) was enormous. Events in Europe and Asia were largely ignored because there was no consensus on what to do and events were far away from our shores. We had our own problems with the Great Depression.

Then Pearl Harbor took place. Only then did each American understand that they were in danger of being destroyed as a nation, as families and as individuals. The nation changed and faced the fact that their fates were unalterably linked. Both parties agreed to work together to preserve the possibilities of the future. Not so well known is that bitter squabbling still occurred. However, for the common good of all, it was agreed to keep it secondary to the common survival.

It is the same for your career and your company. You will work for the common good recognizing your shared fate or you risk facing your own Pearl Harbor'.

Successful Testing: Part 3

Developing Your "Big Picture" Tool

TEAM DYNAMICS V

Shared vision is the next step. If each teammate looks at a project differently, each focusing on their perceived assignment as a disconnected entity from the whole, the likelihood of missteps increases dramatically. The first step to share a vision is for everyone to sit down and agree on basics like:

Technically, what is the test intended to achieve, i.e. the reason for testing

What tasks have already been identified

What tasks need further clarification

Were any tasks overlooked

Who are the members of the Team

Internal

External

What are the Goals of the Team

What are the Technical Goals

What are the Timing Goals

What milestone dates can be established

What are the Financial Goals

How have tasks been budgeted

Does any team member have any special personal goals

What additional resources can be brought to bear if required

What is the best match of talents, time and tasks

This one step alone is one of the most powerful tools available in your toolbox, if the entire team emerges with a direction and sense of shared purpose. This is what a Kick-off meeting is really all about.

What else can you do to maximize the potential for commitment to each other as teammates while simultaneously retaining your spark of individuality?

Successful Testing Part 3:

Developing Your "Big Picture Tool"

TECHNOLOGY CONSTRAINTS

Engineers need to always keep in mind that both the accuracy and applicability of any test are always a compromise due to technical limitations. Therefore, ALL test results are to viewed with a bit of a jaundiced eye. Not necessarily a bias towards the test procedure, but towards the interpretation of the results of the test and how that can be related to real world use.

These limitations sometimes are not clear to the customer, and sometimes not to the test staff either. Any disconnect in actual vs. perceived capability of technology is an area ripe for miscommunication and business to business breakdown.

The topic is too large to address in depth here, to grant it justice the topic would be a course on its own. However, some brief discussion is appropriate since one purpose of this course is to help you make value judgements on testing from an informed and passionate view.

Sources of Skepticism in Component, Systems and Full Vehicle Testing

The underlying factor in the value of ALL durability related testing is the belief in the accuracy of the results. Data and facts drive engineers, unfortunately sometimes data and results develop a life of their own.

We release a chassis on the philosophy of finite life design were we know: "The system will not last forever but the vehicle will be reduced to scrap before anything unsafe were to occur".

In designing vehicle systems for finite-life, we are managing the amount of plastic strain generated and accumulated in parts. This plastic strain occurs from a very small percentage of the total events on the proving grounds.

That is where perspective needs to be developed and maintained.

Preparing A Proper Test:

Steps in Developing a Test Plan

Understanding what goals a test is to achieve is key to understanding if the test will have value. It is better to change paths early in the test process since generating misleading information has negative value.