Based in Waterbury, VT, GPMS International, is the leader in predictive health & usage monitoring systems (HUMS), flight data monitoring and rotor track & balance for rotorcraft. Their systems, used in aerospace markets for rotation equipment, monitor vibration sensors where data is used for predictive maintenance, sensing any deteriorating performance which leads to scheduling maintenance before a system fails. Started in a garage by co-founders Eric Bechhoefer, CEO & Chief Engineer, and Jack Taylor, Senior Software Architect, the ten year old company employs approximately 25 people and serves both U.S. and international markets.
GPMS was experiencing electrical failures detected during manufacturing and quality assurance testing. Familiar with VMEC and their extensive resources, GPMS sought out their guidance; it was determined to conduct a Structured Problem Solving (SPS) event to explore contributing factors to electrical shorting. SPS is a systematic method that starts with developing a detailed problem definition, data gathering, conducting experiments and brainstorming various potential root causes.
Facilitating and guiding the process with GPMS engineers, VMEC determined there was electrical shorting between the printed circuit board and the enclosure. VMEC’s advanced manufacturing partner, The Manufacturing Collaborative, provided Industrial CT Scanning and analysis services, where several units were scanned where the problem could be visualized. The CT Scanning accelerated the problem solving methodology by quickly confirming the root cause of the problem.
The Maker’s Fund was utilized to conduct the CT Scanning and analysis; without this additional funding, GPMS would not have been able to secure the necessary scan to determine the circuit board issue’s root cause. “We appreciate the Maker’s Fund being available to support the high-tech problem solving at an attainable cost,” stated Julia Austin, GPMS Vice President of Operations. “The Fund brought technology to us that we otherwise might not have been able to afford.”
By identifying the root cause, GPMS was able to improve their process and eliminate the failure with no manufacturing defects having been found and over 50 units successfully deployed into the field without issue.
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