Safety Improvements Using Non-Destructive Ultrasonic Testing

A customer approached ARi to perform non-destructive ultrasonic testing (NDT) inspections on their articulated truck machines, specifically looking for the presence of cracks on the truck’s wheel hubs caused by the cool down production process.

Project Scope

Production defects are a huge liability to large quantity manufacturers. Although inspection protocols and processes are performed, sometimes micro-defects can slip through the cracks. A customer approached ARi to perform non-destructive ultrasonic testing (NDT) inspections on their articulated truck machines, specifically looking for the presence of cracks on the truck’s wheel hubs caused by the cool down production process. These cracks could lead to premature field failures placing operators in danger, impacting work site operations, and costing the company a substantial amount of money.

Business Challenges

Before the problem was identified, 1000 machines across the United States and Canada had made it to the field. The manufacturer approached ARi to provide the technical expertise needed to identify these defects and replace the hubs before failure. With high liability knowing the failure of the wheel could lead to customer downtime and serious injury, ARi’s experience in heavy component design and validation provided confidence to solve this problem quickly and thoroughly.

ARi’s Solutions

ARi worked closely with the manufacturer to understand the proper method that could be used to identify the cracks. A crack could not be recognized from visual inspection; therefore, non-destructive, ultrasonic testing was used to find the cracks within the hub material. ARi identified close to 20 machines with cracked hubs, allowing the manufacturer to replace the components which showed pro- activity to their customer and saved thousands of dollars in accident liability costs. In addition to analyzing the wheel hubs, ARi project management scheduled travel and created communication flows to streamline the processes between the manufacturer, dealer, machine customer, and ARi testing technicians.

ARi’s Value Proposition

When any customer comes to ARi it is our goal to be thorough, precise, and instrumental throughout the entire project. With our goal to continually use the best and most innovative technology, we stand by the effectiveness and reliability of the NDT solutions. We consistently create a more efficient environment through this technology to reduce product defects, ultimately providing companies high-cost savings.