Mahle Powertrain in Wellingborough has relied on Crane Electronics’ torque control products for over a decade. Due to the increased level of future testing required by Mahle and their customers, they have decided to upgrade their equipment with the latest generation of Crane products. Dave Burton, Production Engineer, at the Wellingborough production plant in the UK explains: “We assemble engines and, depending on the project, typically check 1 in 50 engines per shift basis to ensure high-quality tightening of nuts, bolts and fasteners.” Delivering the correct level of torque is crucial in the automotive industry: too little and joints may rattle and loosen with implicit safety implications. Alternatively, over tightening can mean fixings are taken past their yield point, which is just as dangerous, leading to early failure of the bolted joint.

For high high-volume tightening Mahle Powertrain is using air and hand wrenches. As these tools are not networked their capability has to be checked and documented as part of an auditing strategy. Mahle Powertrain uses a mobile tool testing station from Crane (MTTS) for this purpose. The heart of this system is a new TorqueStar Opta data collector and incorporates multiple stationary transducers, joint kits, a printer and a tool reaction post. As the system is on trolley it can be easily be moved around the production

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