SHERLOCK ® LEAK DETECTOR
FAST —Locates leaks in just 5 seconds.
ACCURATE —Finds leaks other detectors miss.
CONVENIENT—Ready-mixed for immediate use.
MANY DIFFERENT TYPES —For gas and air, above
freezing, below freezing, pure oxygen and compressed air,
for refrigerant gases and air conditioning systems.
SEVERAL SIZES —In 4 and 8 oz. squeeze and dauber
bottles and bulk sizes—1, 5 and 55 gal. drums. Buy our
famous Pint Brush Top Dispenser and fill from bulk.
Contact Joyce Rick or Jack McCreary
WINTON PRODUCTS CO., INC.
P.O. Box 36332, Charlotte, North Carolina 28236 • 704/399-5151
Fax: 704/392-5389 • e-mail: wintonprod@aol.com
www.wintonproducts.com
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Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Bell Helicopter Textron is an
industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and
unmanned vertical lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary
tilt rotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell’s global workforce serves
customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
Kevin Tyler, a quality supervisor at Bell Helicopter, Textron, explained
that Bell’s reputation not only relies on its storied history but also on its
commitment to quality. As Tyler said, “That commitment is seen at
every Bell assembly facility. My focus is to maintain strict environmental controls that ensure conditions in the physical plant do not
impact the quality of sensitive helicopter components or their
assembly.”
The Challenge
At Bell, if temperature or humidity in an assembly area is out of
compliance, a quality control policy goes into effect to identify,
repair and resume normal operations within a four-hour window. That
aggressive timeline means that, within the course of a shift, Bell
needed an effective way to:
•Quickly detect if temperature or humidity were out of compliance
across numerous assembly sites.
•Implement processes to store and protect parts from the non-compliant environment.
•Contact plant maintenance to trace the source of the HVACR
anomaly and repair it.
•Resume normal operating conditions.
The clock never stops ticking and the pressure was on to find a way
to implement this sequence of procedures effectively with rapid discovery and minimal downtime. Like many plants, Tyler’s numerous
sites relied on paper-based circular chart recorders to document
recent trends in temperature and humidity. Twice a shift, these
devices required staff to stop what they were doing, visit each chart
recorder throughout the plants, and check readings for non-compli-ance. Often, these chart recorders ran out of paper or the pens had
dried out, turning the quick spot checks into longer maintenance
visits. Tyler also found that paper-based loggers were more prone to
going out of calibration, causing devices to be out of service
frequently.
The Solution
Tyler and Bell finally made the decision to go paperless and installed
24 of Extech’s RH520A humidity and temperature chart recorders
around his sites. This digital recorder not only displays numerical
temperature and humidity readings, its large, easy-to-read LCD
display also features a graphical line chart that allows at-a-glance
viewing of recent trending information.
In addition to replacing the monitoring capabilities of previous
devices, Tyler was also able to program audible and visible
temperature and humidity alarms for high and low thresholds with
the Extech chart recorders. Now, staff in the area are alerted to any
non-compliant conditions almost immediately. Procedures to
protect parts being manufactured are enacted promptly, and
requests for maintenance and repair are submitted quickly.
Tyler’s implementation of an updated humidity and temperature
monitoring process with Extech’s RH520 digital chart recorder has
been more of a success than he had ever imagined. The recorders
are so popular at the organization’s various locations that Tyler
reently ordered another half-dozen because quality control staff
from other sites were often borrowing them.
The Extech paperless chart recorder also helped Tyler easily exceed
Bell Helicopter’s 30-day record-keeping requirements: he now saves
11 months of data on each device, backing up data every six
months to a hard drive.
Quality and Customer Service
This was not Tyler’s first foray into paperless data loggers; however,
the ones he had selected and purchased from different manufacturers were unreliable for the job. In fact, Tyler was shocked to discover that 40 percent of the devices locked up during data down-loading. Furthermore, the companies were providing poor customer
service. Conversely, he said that when he did have to resolve a
problem with an Extech device, “No customer service department
has ever made me as happy as Extech’s. Customer service was
friendly, helpful, and responsive and took a no-hassle approach to
taking care of the problem fast.”
Rapid ROI with Extech
From a return-on-investment (ROI) perspective, Tyler estimates that
the move to the Extech chart recorders now saves Bell Helicopter an
estimated $27,000 a year in labor and supply expenses. The
recorders paid for themselves within months.
Streamlined Procedures
In the end, Tyler actually formalized and implemented temperature
and humidity compliance policies for the facilities he monitors with
the Extech data logger as a key part of that process. Because of
the effectiveness of the policy he authored, more and more Bell
Helicopter sites are adopting it. The compliance policy ensures that
Bell plants monitor temperature and humidity accurately with main-tenance-free recorders. And when HVACR failures are detected,
they can implement a responsive protocol that protects parts in
assembly and gets repairs started promptly. The bottom line, as Tyler
puts it: “We’re implementing them all over the place.”
Looking Ahead: More Applications at Bell
Tyler is so thrilled with his Extech chart recorders that he is now evaluating them for new applications such as temperature monitoring in
walk-in freezers. With the resounding success at Bell Helicopter, Tyler
is sold on the Extech Advantage™—Innovation, Support, and
Selection: “Next time I need to buy a test and measurement
device, I would definitely consider what Extech has to offer.”
André Rebelo, Extech Instruments, a FLIR Company
Andre has been with Extech since early 2008. The part of his job he
enjoys most is talking to Extech customers and learning about how
Extech delivers high-value, high-accuracy testing and measurement
in their unique job situations. Andre wants to hear your story! Email
andre.rebelo@extech.com
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