Automation Cuts Volvo's Costs
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(-OM PARING endurance development
testing of heavy truck engines in the Volvo fully automated laboratory with the testing of power units installed in road vehicles, Mr. Ake Larborn, chief engineer in Volvo's development laboratory at Gothenburg, claimed recently that the laboratory method reduced the cost per hour in the ratio 5-3 to 1-5.
Presenting a paper to the automobile division of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, Mr. Larborn mentioned that operating engines on 10 endurance test beds was equivalent to a daily test-vehicle mileage of 10,000, which would' require the use of 20 vehicles on a two-shift basis and the employment of 40 drivers. Road testing during the intermediate stages of development mainly could be confined, he emphasized, to the solution of problems relating to installation, cooling, air cleaning, noise and vibration, and was essential in the later stages to cater for methods of driving that could not be envisaged by the development engineer,
In a conversation with 'a member of The Commercial Motor s,taff after the meeting Mr. Larborn observed that the times saved by automated testing could be highly advantageous to the engine designer in that it could facilitate the introduction of important modifications and the development of new types of power unit.