Volvo Penta Reduces Engine Warranty Costs 30% with ITI's
Reliability Growth Program
MILFORD, OH; NOVEMBER 1, 2005 - Global product development
consultant
International TechneGroup Incorporated (ITI) announces a
successful
Reliability Growth program with engine manufacturer Volvo
Penta
(Gothenburg, Sweden). Volvo's plan was to adapt and develop
a new 12
liter diesel engine that would meet aggressive sales and
challenging
reliability targets for marine applications for a product
with
significant sales volumes. Specifically, the company's goals
were a 30%
reduction in warranty claims of current product levels and
an increase
in market share. Through ITI's Reliability Growth program
both targets
were effectively met. At the program's conclusion, failure
rate for the
new engine in fact exceeded the goal. Bolstered by enhanced
reliability, sales of the engine reached twice what was
forecasted.
Said Urban Larsson, Product Development Manager for Volvo
Penta: "The
impact of our reliability growth initiative has been
tremendous. Thanks
in large part to ITI's Reliability Growth program we were
able to
successfully meet our failure rate reduction goal. As a result of this
success, Reliability Growth is today a standard part of new
product
development at Volvo Penta."
ITI worked with Volvo to understand the reliability behavior
of its line
of current engines.
Rather than look at reliability for the12-liter
engine family as a whole, information was sorted by industry
and
application. This enabled historical performance and future
requirements
for the entire family of engines to be fully quantified and
understood.
In this way, realistic yet aggressive targets could set for
each engine
with specific reliability plans developed for each.
Reliability Growth programs applied on the project:
-- Current product reliability data was analyzed
-- Targets for the new products were established
-- New content resulting from changes in product designs was
analyzed &
quantified
-- Reliability Growth test & improvement plans were
developed
-- Endurance testing, internal vehicle testing, &
customer field-testing
was completed
Implementing Reliability Growth
ITI and Volvo jointly executed the program. Reliability
Growth was first
planned - a model was used to determine the amount of new
content risk
and associated amount of testing required to identify and
resolve
problems. A process and software to track and manage
problems to
resolution was developed and implemented for capture,
continual
monitoring, and management of test data.
Initially, ITI assisted with the first deployment of
Reliability Growth
test monitoring and management. As supporting teams and individuals
were trained, Penta adopted the Reliability knowledge and
methodology as
a best practice in new product development. Penta has since become
self-sufficient and has continued to successfully apply the
Reliability
Growth methods and technologies to all development programs.
About Reliability Growth
ITI's product quality and reliability program ensure that
desired levels
of reliability are achieved and demonstrated during product
development
-- before new products go into production. This is
accomplished through
a carefully planned program implemented over the course of
the project.
The goals are to optimize the overall reliability
engineering activity,
achieve the best possible starting reliability level in the
first
product prototypes, and systematically improve reliability
by
identifying and resolving unanticipated, undetected, or
underestimated
problems.
About ITI
With global headquarters in Milford, Ohio (USA), ITI is the
world's
leading provider of consulting, software products and
related
integration services that enable clients to dramatically
improve their
product and manufacturing process development capabilities. ITI is the
world's largest independent provider of product data
integration
products and services. The Company's Concurrent Product and
Manufacturing Process Development (CPPD) methodology
shortens product
development time cycles and reduces development costs.
www.iti-global.com
CPPD is a registered trademark of International TechneGroup
Incorporated
All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to
their
respective holders. Contact:
Robert M. Farrell
ITI
513.576.3900
farrell@iti-global.com
