Product Development Lab Upgrade

The Challenge

Our client, a leading engine manufacturer, was experiencing a bottleneck in engine development testing and needed a product development lab upgrade. Its endurance engine test cells were too few and too dated to accomplish its time-to-market goals.

Besides increasing its capacity for endurance testing, the company needed to improve testing efficiency and the quality of data. Endurance engine testing was being conducted in multiple locations and the environmental differences between the spaces created variability in the test data.

To consolidate its endurance testing in a single location and increase its testing capacity, the company needed a contractor who understood testing and its unique environmental requirements; who could perform the facility renovation in phases; and who could accomplish the mission with minimal disruptions while working inside an operating manufacturing plant.

The Solution

ACS held all the contracts for the design, demolition, and construction phases of the facility renovation project. The first step was defining a solution.

ACS renovated an area of the existing facility to become an endurance engine test area. Renovations included removing equipment, moving or closing off doors and openings, and replacing HVAC and electrical systems. ACS then relocated the 26 existing endurance test stands to the renovated space.

A modular test stand room became a control room for the new test spaces. This transformation required relocating the test stand to a different part of the facility and replacing the room’s HVAC, ventilation, windows, and paint.

The space that had formerly housed the 26 endurance test stands became space for engine development testing with a dynamometer. This transformation included removing or extending fuel lines, moving walls, installing support beams, extending the ceiling, installing engine exhaust pipe, installing or extending access to utilities such as water or compressed air, and implementing safety measures like fire suppression and gas monitoring systems. ACS built the four new dyno engine test cells and oversaw the installation of the dynamometers and other test equipment.

Outcome

Since ACS managed the entire construction process, the engine manufacturer had a single point of contact throughout the project. ACS hired and managed contractors and subcontractors, provided site supervision, applied for required permits, and managed each one of the project’s phases.

Because the plant remained operational throughout the product development lab upgrade, the client would have had to tackle it piecemeal if it had kept the project management in-house. By bringing in ACS, the client was able to focus on its core business functions and implement a solution in far less time than an in-house project would have allowed.

Key Features

• Test cells renovation, including demolition and construction
• Engine endurance test cells
• Engine development dynamometer cells
• HVAC and controls upgrades
• Renovation of test cell control room

ACS Services

• ACS provided project management services for the entire project
• Hired the design firms and managed the design process
• Held contracts for and managed all subcontractors during demolition and construction phases
• Managed permitting
• On-site construction management and supervision services throughout the project