Kingston
Timer
| COMPANY/LOCATION: |
Kingston Timer, Smithville, Tennessee |
| PRODUCT: |
Electronic timers for appliances including clothes dryers, automatic
hand dryers used in restrooms, locking mechanisms for self-cleaning ovens,
and small motors |
| YEARS IN BUSINESS: |
81 |
EMPLOYEES:
ANNUAL SALES : |
300
$22 million |
| SITUATION: |
Field failures were being reported in some of the electrical devices
manufactured by Kingston Timer. The company wanted to know what was causing
the failures in order to answer customer concerns and solve the problem.
Engineers at Kingston Timer believed that the electrical contacts in the
devices might have become contaminated and needed a way to test the theory. |
| PROJECT: |
An employee of Kingston Timer had heard about the free consultation
services offered through the Manufacturing Technology Information Service
and called the MTIS's toll-free number. Samples of electrical contacts
were sent to the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology for analysis
by infrared spectroscopy. |
| RESULTS: |
More than solving the problem, infrared spectroscopy performed on the
components determined what the problem was not, which is part of solving
the problem. Kingston Timer received data that will result in a cost avoidance
through the use of alternative cleaning methods recommended by the analysts.
The new cleaning techniques require less labor and thereby cost less and
have served as assurance to Kingston Timer's customer that the company
was doing all it could to solve the quality problem. ORCMT assistance provided
an avenue for inspecting the components and access to researchers who understand
company needs and goals. The service reduced field failures and provided
both an avoidance of an estimated $300,000 in sales losses the first
year and an estimated $700,000 in increased sales in the second year.
Jim Livers, senior product engineer with Kingston Timer, said that the
customer was "getting extremely concerned about the cause of the problem."
The analysis performed and the information gained satisfied Kingston Timer's
customer that the problem would be solved. "We've retained four or five
jobs that we might have lost without access to the service," Livers
said.
|
Technical assistances provided to the private sector by the Oak Ridge
Centers for Manufacturing Technology (ORCMT) and its manufacturing extension
partners throughout the United States.
|
