Background
Dana is a global leader in the design, engineering and manufacture of value-added products and systems for automotive, commercial and off-highway vehicles.
How we were involved
Their Thermal Products Division, Long Manufacturing, approached us to characterise and test the raw materials used in their brazed aluminium heat exchangers. This ‘supplier fingerprinting’ of products allowed Dana to detect subtle process changes made during the manufacture of their raw materials.
The huge amount of data generated in this project was captured in unique, user-friendly software developed by Innoval called a D-Map (‘Data Map’). The D-Map is based upon our K-Map (‘Knowledge Map’) and uses the same software. The K-Map process provides a structured approach to knowledge management. It enables manufacturing companies to easily capture valuable knowledge and make it accessible to the people who need it.
What is supplier fingerprinting?
We characterise your materials, or your suppliers’ materials, and tell you if a change in the manufacturing process has affected the quality of the final product. This ‘fingerprinting’ of your products (or your suppliers’ products) allows you to detect subtle changes and react accordingly.
Our Materials Testing team can analyse your material to solve a problem or answer a question. They will turn your samples around quickly and give you advice as well as test results.
Services Involved
- Strategic Support & BP
- Materials Testing
- Heat Exchangers
- K-Map
Because of the expertise and facilities at Innoval we can now readily identify changes to our suppliers’ products and react accordingly. The D-Map gives us easy access to all the data, enabling us to incorporate unique material properties into product design, and quickly resolve material related manufacturing issues. Furthermore, the D-Map makes it possible to disseminate technical information quickly and efficiently.
Doug Hawksworth, Senior Scientist, Dana Corporation, Long Manufacturing
