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Ford Saves Millions with Streamlined IR Program: At Ford Motor Company, streamlining operations and cutting costs translates into a larger profit margin. In the automotive assembly room, interruptions to the flow of production prove costly and frustrating. In fact, with a body shop that produces sixty vehicles an hour at a profit of nearly $10,000 dollars a vehicle, any production time lost is a large dent in revenue.
At Ford’s St. Louis Assembly Plant, trained thermographers inspect weld guns and shunts, control cables, cooling systems, motors and bushings. Potential failures are detected long before they become critical, allowing Ford to schedule maintenance when it is most convenient. Transformer failure has been completely eliminated since they began an infrared program.
Thermal imaging reduced down time and helped to avert costly failures in robotic welders and other equipment. During the first two years of their IR program, Ford saved over $1,000,000 dollars, making their IR purchase an investment worth its weight in gold.
Courtesy of Frank Calmes, Ford Motor Company, in Inframation Proceedings 2001
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