| A large tire and rubber manufacturer's products are produced worldwide at different manufacturing locations. In order to ensure that the same quality standard is respected everywhere, comprehensive testing procedures are required.
Among other devices, so-called rebound resilience testers are deployed at many manufacturing sites. The methods employed for monitoring the accuracy of these testers is not completely standardized and can be verified only conditionally on site. After intensive deliberations, the customer and Zwick service specialists arrived at the conclusion that absolute identical monitoring of the testers can only be done centrally. This is the only way that the requirements for uniform testing equipment and testing methods can be ensured. Verification is now done directly at Zwick in Ulm. A reference device has been installed for this purpose.
Special shipping containers have been designed by Zwick for transporting the devices. Within a year, all the testers from 20 international manufacturing locations will be brought to Ulm for service and calibration. As a comparison, samples with three different resilience values will be "pounded " on the calibrated and the comparison testers prior to being returned. The customer will receive the testing specification and the results of the comparison for analysis at its headquarters. After release, the testers will be returned to their deployment location.
Understandably, this entire procedure must be accomplished in the shortest possible time, so that the testers required for production monitoring are out of service only for a short time. To ensure this requirement, Zwick works hand-in-hand with the customer's technical and logistics divisions. |
