ZF Sachs Automotive of America
CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

Streamlining Damper Development
MTS helps a global vehicle component manufacturer optimize its testing.

C US T OM E R CH A LLEN G E

ZF Sachs Automotive of America specializes in the development of suspension andtransmission components for passenger vehicles, trucks, heavy trucks and rail vehicles.
A subsidiary of German company ZF Friedrichshafen, ZF Sachs’ main North America
research-and-development facility is located in Northville, Michigan, U.S.A., wherea majority of the company’s damper testing occurs.
ZF Sachs was already running an efficient damper testing program at this state-of-theart facility, but lab management wanted to streamline the program even further, in two
primary ways. First, it sought to provide even more consistent testing — including a moreconsistent operator experience — at all ZF Sachs test laboratories around the world.

“From top-quality equipment and service toongoing maintenance, you really get the whole
package when you work with MTS.”
Jeff Freed
Testing Lab ManagerZF Sachs Automotive of America“We are truly a global company, so it’s critical that results from this facility mirror theresults on the same test at another laboratory,” said Jeff Freed, Testing Lab Manager at
the ZF Sachs Northville facility. “In addition to giving us utmost confidence in our test
data, this will help improve our productivity, by allowing us to easily share information
across our geographically dispersed locations.
“And ideally, the user experience should also be identical, whether an engineer isrunning a test in the U.S., Europe, Asia or elsewhere,” Freed added.
Second, ZF Sachs wanted to reduce unscheduled downtime to as close to zero aspossible. The ZF Sachs facility constantly runs at a very high capacity, and even minor
equipment issues can disrupt the production schedule. “Time-to-market means
everything in the automotive components industry, and every test rig we operate
literally has projects waiting in line, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,”
Freed said. “So it’s critical that every test system stays running.”
M T S S OL UT IO N

ZF Sachs has a long history using MTS products and services worldwide. “We’ve been
partnering with MTS for decades and are very satisfied with the relationship,” Freedsaid. “So when we had to identify a vendor to help us further optimize our damper
testing program, MTS was an easy choice.”
The optimization began by installing the very latest MTS testing software, both at themain ZF Sachs R&D facility in Northville and at other damper test facilities aroundthe world. Updates included RPC® Pro software, Multipurpose TestWare® (MPT™)CUSTOMER CASE STUDY

software, and the latest version of MTS
damper testing software. All this software isdesigned to offer leading-edge capabilities
from an extremely intuitive user interface,equipping operators to complete more
testing in less time.
Next, ZF Sachs got all of its digital controllers
on the new MTS FlexTest® platform, in orderto operate its existing servohydraulic test
systems as efficiently as possible. Many ofthese test systems were older systems thatreceived upgrades or complete controller
replacements, allowing the latest softwareand controller technology to be used on avariety of legacy systems from MTS andother manufacturers.
“We have one of the first MTS damper test
systems ever introduced at our Northvilletest lab,” Freed said. “We’ve been using it
pretty much nonstop since the 1980s, andit still performs great.”
ZF Sachs also purchased an MTS Assured
Maintenance Plan (AMP), which provides
proactive, routine maintenance on test
system parts that can lead to downtime andexpensive emergency repairs if unmonitored.
The ZF Sachs AMP includes periodic test
system calibrations to keep data fidelity high.

C US T O M ER B EN EFI TS

According to Freed, the MTS solution
allows ZF Sachs to more closely correlate
test data at its damper testing facilities
around the world. “We now offer a uniform
and easy-to-use software application
regardless of where a test is conducted,
and whether it’s being run on an old or
newer-generation test system,” Freedsaid. “We’ve also seen solid reductions in
downtime from the proactive maintenance,
which puts us in a great position to keep
pace with our heavy demand.

Freed also cites MTS expertise as a crucial
element to the project’s success, and a key
reason why ZF Sachs and its parent company
are such loyal MTS customers.
“We’ve found MTS service and support tobe as reliable as the equipment itself,” hesaid. “Whenever we have a question, there’s
always a direct line to the answers we need.
From top-quality equipment and service toongoing maintenance, you really get thewhole package when you work with MTS.”“Plus, our new efficiency improvements
have reduced our operating costs, whichallows us to uphold our high quality
standards while better responding to pricing
pressures in the market,” Freed added.

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