CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
19 January 2009
Implementation Investments
Magna Powertrain Doubles Testing Productivity with LMS Test.Lab
LMS , announced that automotive supplier Magna Powertrain has successfully deployed LMS Test.Lab and is experiencing productivity gains of up to 50%. Magna Powertrain uses the LMS systems to optimize the NVH performance of powertrains and drivelines it designs and manufacturers for cars, trucks, SUVs and other vehicles.
Based in St. Valentin, Austria, the company uses the advanced testing technology in developing components and integrating complete systems into vehicle designs for major automotive manufacturers including BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Porsche, Renault, Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, Toyota and others. The firm is a subsidiary of Magna International, the world’s largest brand-independent engineering and manufacturing supplier in the automotive industry.
The NVH system implemented at Magna Powertrain consists of the LMS Test Lab software suite and multiple LMS SCADAS Mobile front-end units, each with 40 data acquisition channels and versatile signal-conditioning capabilities. The lightweight, laptop-size units are easily transported and can be quickly set up on the front passenger seat of a vehicle with the help of test-scenario templates and convenient transducer verification/calibration.
A single operator driving the test vehicle readily conducts the test via convenient remote controls and real-time monitoring capabilities that provide results as tests are being run. The user interface of LMS Test.Lab has been specially tuned for mobile testing applications. Large displays show key parameters and analysis curves, so the operator sees at a glance the progress of the test and the validity of data being acquired. Magna testing teams use the systems for in-vehicle testing at customer sites, as well as for testing full vehicles and drivetrains in the lab during product development.
Andreas Wieser, Department Manager of Acoustics and Vibration at the Magna Powertrain Engineering Center, explains that real-time capabilities of the LMS system are especially useful in increasing testing efficiency. “In the past, most of our engineers’ time was spent behind a desk number-crunching raw data and performing calculations to find the root cause of NVH problems. If the data was inconclusive, more tests had to be run. Then more time was spent writing reports to document the results,” says Wieser.
“LMS Test.Lab streamlines this entire process from start to finish and eliminates many of these iteration and rework bottlenecks,” Wieser explains. “Measurements are validated on the spot, and results are available immediately with on-line plots such as waterfall diagrams and color maps. Real-time feedback provides valuable insight into the root cause of problems and allows a quick response after tests are run. More detailed studies such as transfer path analysis and noise contribution analysis can also be quickly performed directly after testing. This is an important time gain and enables us to provide customers with impressive state-of-the-art engineering on-site.”
Report generation capabilities in the LMS system add up to more time savings, according to Wieser. Management of data is straightforward, so engineers can easily access key results. Plots, curves and other output can be conveniently copied and pasted into Microsoft Word or PowerPoint with no data conversion required. “The LMS Active Pictures capability is a tremendously powerful tool for engineers to convey test results clearly and quickly, enabling anyone opening the report file to animate, magnify, or otherwise manipulate live test data without the need to have LMS Test.Lab on their system,” he says.
Wieser explains that easy mobility, real-time feedback, advanced data analysis features and convenient report generation capabilities have enabled the department to significantly compress the NVH testing cycle, from initial setup to preparation of the final report. “The LMS SCADAS Mobile system is small and smart, which makes it the perfect fit for fast state-of-the-art mobile NVH testing. Through the use of this powerful system, our complete measurement and analysis cycle on the average is reduced overall by half,” says Wieser. “This 50% time savings in test turnaround has tremendous business value in enabling us to respond faster to customer requests and assist to a greater degree in troubleshooting on a much shorter notice than was previously possible.”
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