Tenneco
Tenneco drives its productivity by automating in process metrology.
Technology: Mitutoyo MiStar CMM
Sector: Automotive
Tenneco Automotive Ibérica is dedicated to the design, manufacturing, and commercialization of electronic suspension systems for the automotive industry worldwide. The Tenneco production plant in Ermua is driving all its technological advancements in line with the challenge of future global mobility.
Shock absorbers are products that provide high safety during driving while offering exceptional comfort in the vehicles that incorporate them. With the increasing electrification of cars, shock absorbers are experiencing higher demand due to their ability to adapt to the new center of gravity in battery-equipped vehicles.
In Tenneco Ermua, dimensional control of their products is key to ensuring the quality of the final product. To dimensionally verify their range of shock absorbers, they have been using two methods in recent years:
- On the one hand, using multi-gauges. This type of tool provided them with a quick view of the dimensional state of the shock absorber but did not provide information on whether they were working within nominal values, and therefore, they were unaware of whether they had the capacity in the analyzed dimensions.
- On the other hand, using magnets, calipers, and height columns. Magnets were used to position the parts on the measurement marble, but being a manual method dependent on human factors, they were unable to fix their parts according to the reference plane without making errors. Additionally, the height column did not provide the actual measurement value due to a lack of a properly created axis.
In each production line, Tenneco has a Team Leader whose function is the comprehensive management and control of the line. With these verification systems, they were unable to obtain real-time data to anticipate process problems, such as wear and tear or tool breakage.
'Metrology rules are changing, and at Sariki, we have no doubt that the future of metrology lies in the automation of metrology. We are leading the new way of applying metrology, driving increased productivity and profitability for our clients by implementing automated and simple metrology solutions directly in production.'
Esther Acha
Sariki Project & Quality manager
Tenneco Ermua has joined the "Changing metrology rules" movement led by Sariki and has incorporated highly efficient measurement technology into its production plant.
Sariki has analyzed Tenneco's needs and challenges and has accompanied the automotive company in its transformation. Mistar is the new measurement solution for the production environment that is already part of Tenneco's dimensional verification process, replacing all the methods they used previously.
The Mistar measuring machine from Mitutoyo ensures high-speed and accurate measurements in hostile environments, playing a key role in improving process productivity.
'Since we implemented Mistar in production, we have gained precision in the results, as well as detection of potential process problems that we couldn't see before'.
Jesús Payo
Tenneco metrology department
Both the line's Team Leader and their team are responsible for using the new measurement solution. The Team Leader, when changing a reference or performing a self-check, carries out preliminary checks to determine if it passes or not, to start the line. Then, they take a part to Mistar to see the complete status of the dimensions. If it's 'yellow' or 'green,' they proceed; if it's 'red,' they just need to look at the plane and measurement report to assess the necessary correction.
Sariki has developed a simple and intuitive interface that guides production operators so that, without extensive knowledge of metrology, they can perform part control.
'With Mistar, the Team Leader has more information when making adjustments. The data is computerized, and we don't need to resort to paper to consult previous productions.'
Jesús Payo
Tenneco metrology department
Today, Tenneco has real-time information about its process and can anticipate emerging problems.
The automation of the metrology process has resulted in advancements in measurement automation, digitization of results, monitoring of the state of their products and processes, speed in product validation; and their entire production team applauds the benefits of the new culture of measuring directly in the process.
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