Springing forward
Celebrating our Q1 achievements
Hello, Fluid Conveyance division –
As we bid farewell to the first quarter and step into April, it’s the perfect time to consider how we can drive our Fluid Conveyance business forward. The past three months have been a testament to our collective efforts, filled with significant achievements—from our first shipment leaving our Dubnica facility to the successful SAP rollout across our APAC sites. In this quarter’s FC Connect & Convey newsletter, we proudly spotlight the efforts of our global teams.
Our unwavering objectives remain at the heart of our mission: to be the globally recognized leader in Fluid Conveyance solutions, setting the industry standard for innovation and reliability. Each of you, our dedicated employees, plays a crucial role in this journey. Throughout this edition, you’ll see how we’re progressing toward our 2024 key objectives.
As we move forward, let’s embrace this new season, celebrate our successes, and push toward even greater heights. Together, we’ll continue to redefine what’s possible in the Fluid Conveyance division!
Andrew Smulski
President, Fluid Conveyance division
Harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence to boost salaried productivity
In the Fluid Conveyance division, we are leveraging recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence to automate cognitive tasks and streamline our processes. Here’s a closer look at two of our ongoing initiatives.
Quote process automation
When it comes to winning new business and better serving current customers, response time is a key driver. The average quote cycle time for a standard hydraulic hose assembly can vary significantly, ranging from a few hours to a few days, depending on complexity. Our goal with the quote process automation project is to cut the quote cycle time on standard hose assemblies in half for key OEMs, allowing us to respond faster and more accurately than the competition.
So far, we have already automated the engineering processes using computer vision AI, which can process multiple parts simultaneously. In just minutes, the program swiftly scans customer drawings, identifies requirements, translates this data into our bills of materials (BOMs), pinpoints product deviations, and offers ready-to-quote options with cost comparisons. This program reduces manual labor, repetitive tasks, and duplication, enhancing team efficiency.
While this project already shows tremendous results, the next phase dives even deeper and involves automating pricing and integrating this system with Salesforce to streamline quote generation further.
Drawing rebranding:
The Fluid Conveyance division has more than 300,000 drawings in various formats, all branded with the Eaton logo and IP note, which require updating. Given the diverse nature of these drawings, manual rebranding is very costly. To address this, we’re developing an AI model using Python, RCNN (Region-based Convolutional Neural Network), and YOLO (You Only Look Once) algorithms. This model will accurately detect and update the Eaton logo and IP note on these drawings, saving significant time and expenses.
A win for all of us
While both AI solutions mentioned above show promising results in the FC division, they are also scalable for broader use among other DPS divisions and their respective customers.
A special thank you to the following team members:
- Ketan Mehta, manager, RHHF
- Bhargav Chati, engineer, RHHF
- Ganesh Badiger, engineer, FACTS
- Aniket Ghadge, lead designer, RHHF
- Shrinivas Kulkarni, specialist, Digital Solutions
- Anik Kumar Samanta, senior engineer, Digital Solutions
We have chemistry!
Did you know that chemistry is the secret ingredient behind many of our most successful solutions? In this Q&A with Aaron Clark, global material science leader, we explore the complex world of chemical compounds and discuss how elements combine in surprising ways to fuel innovation throughout several major industries.
What is Materials Science (also called “Chemistry”)?
It is researching and discovering new materials, or finding news uses for materials across different applications. It plays an important role in numerous industries: hydraulics, automotive, 3D printing, medical, construction, and apparel. The same materials used in one of our hoses could be used on an airplane to keep the wing from freezing up – and Materials Science would have discovered that new application!
How does chemistry influence Danfoss’ business?
Danfoss is expected to pioneer unique technologies and deliver innovative solutions for the hydraulics industry. Recent successes include the Next Generation Dura-Tuff cover, EC881 Dura-Pulse inner tube, and the RHHF eco-friendly hose, all of which were developed to improve our market share.
Why do customers care about the chemistry of our products?
Our customers expect a high standard of quality. Materials Science ensures the caliber and sustainability of our materials are top notch. Danfoss chemists formulate rubber and thermoplastic elastomers into hose compounds and sealing articles like O-rings and gaskets. We can do this because rubber and thermoplastics materials have durable and elastic properties that allow them to be molded, extruded, and woven into a variety of shapes. How and why we do that depends on our customers’ diverse applications.
What do chemists do?
Our experienced global team of polymer chemists compound new formulations and support process improvements to ensure production facilities fill orders with the high-quality products our customers expect. We support innovation for new product development (NPD), value add value engineering (VAVE), product stewardship, cost out, and provide production support.
What is compounding?
Elastomer compounding is like baking a cake: chemists bring together a variety of ingredients and turn them into something completely new. However, our ingredients are polymers, reactive curatives, fillers, and processing aids. Compounding is a blend of science, processing, and art with unlimited options to be creative!
Where are our Materials Science colleagues located?
We have nine chemists and 10 Materials Science technicians working in production and lab facilities across the globe. We have labs in Maumee, Ohio, U.S., and Çerkezköy, Türkiye. We have mixing facilities in Newbern, Tennessee, U.S.; Mountain Home, Arkansas, U.S.; and Çerkezköy, Türkiye. There is a strong partnership between Materials Science and production teams, as we work closely together to identify root causes, brainstorm, and test solutions.
Do our chemists only support Fluid Conveyance?
Our Materials Science team supports across divisions and segments on a regular basis. We look forward to the challenge of improving Danfoss’s current offerings and innovating to create new products that support our customers’ needs.
Fluid Conveyance Continuous Improvement Competition
Have you or your team made high-impact improvements that deserve to be shared and recognized? If yes, we now have an opportunity for you to showcase these impactful improvements!
The Fluid Conveyance division Leadership Team (FCLT) is excited to announce the launch of a Continuous Improvement (CI) Competition to celebrate these improvements.
What is the Fluid Conveyance CI Competition?
- Competition among FC’s global plants and functions to recognize and celebrate improvements that have had a positive impact on the business.
- Improvements should be demonstrated through Safety, Quality, Delivery, or Cost (SQDC) or other metrics. Improvements must be sustainable.
- The competition will be held twice in 2024. Depending on the response, this may change in 2025 and beyond.
How do plants/functions apply?
- Plants/functions are encouraged to review their best ideas and nominate their top idea. We encourage plant/functional leaders to recognize all nominations.
- Direct nominations to Angela Cole (angela.cole@danfoss.com).
- BU and functional FCLT leaders will select the top 4-5 nominations for a final presentation.
- Final presentations will be given to a virtual, global FC audience.
- A panel of judges consisting of FC leaders will select the final winner.
What needs to be in our application?
The application is a PowerPoint presentation containing 6 slides to cover the following items:
- Problem statement and strategic linkage to your plant, BU/function, and/or division
- Improvement actions executed
- Impact: details of the results (SQDC, financial)
- How did the plant/function go about doing it? Show the approach and process. You should show a PDCA approach.
- How will your results be sustainable?
- Recognition of the team members who helped implement improvement
What does the winning team receive?
- A recognition plaque to proudly display
- Bragging rights!
- Individual prizes for team members (may vary by country)
So, what are you waiting for? Fill out that application and get competitive!
We want to hear from you!
Our contact email address has changed to FCNews@danfoss.com to more accurately represent the variety of information we will share with you. Please use it to share your feedback or ideas!
Reminder
Please note that as communicated in September 2023, our Industrial Hose business unit (IDH) has been renamed “Private Label & SEL Hose” business unit (PLS) to create more clarity and focus.