Defects happen. Right now, every day. No company is immune.
Inspecting components for the automotive, transport, aerospace, medical device,
and consumer product industries is Advanced Material Solutions (AMS). CEO
Monthly recently recognized the firm as The USA’s Most Innovative High-Speed
Testing Firm of the Year 2020, under the guidance of company president Peter
Miller. We profile the firm to learn more about its services.
Protecting a company’s brand and reputation by ensuring the
safe and efficient operation of products and the component parts they are made
from is the AMS approach. Helping to save time and money by avoiding the costs
and loss of revenue due to product or equipment failure, all done with the
minimum of disruption to production processes and schedules, is what drives
AMS, a provider of high-speed, high-volume component inspection for the
aforementioned industries.
Based in Phoenix, Arizona, and Central Mexico, AMS checks
tens of millions of parts every year, using Ultrasonic, Acoustic Resonance, and
Electromagnetic Inspection technologies to detect structural flaws such as
cracks, or improper material conditions in safety critical parts. The firm also
provides visual inspection, parts cleaning, and warehousing services, where
they add value. Despite the company being formed twenty five years ago,
president Peter Miller only joined in 2015 and both have seen great success in
the years since then.
Mr Miller has dedicated more than two and half decades of
his working career to keeping people safe, predominantly within the
transportation safety industry. Having worked all over the world for some major
corporations, he eventually formed Pulse Manufacturing LLC in 2014. The
following year, Pulse acquired AMS and Mr Miller was free to continue his
life’s work of protecting people by working in the field of non-destructive material
inspection. Since then, he has remained president of both firms and has
overseen remarkable growth for AMS. It is the firm’s work performing
high-volume inspection that lead to the development of its SmartTest™ line of
Acoustic Resonance Inspection systems for which it is recognized.
Inspecting millions of parts per year requires a robust
system, capable of handling that volume at a consistently rapid pace, while
ensuring detection of all non-conforming components. A couple of years ago, the
leadership team at AMS found themselves in need of better flaw detection
systems, with better reliability, higher throughput and better plant floor
productivity; the legacy resonance systems made by other companies simply
weren’t up to scratch.
AMS put together a team, set a budget and a list of wants,
and worked for two and a half years to produce SmartTest™, the most advanced
Acoustic Resonance Inspection system available today. Featuring industry
leading technology, SmartTest™ boasts increased bandwidth and much higher
resolution leading to more robust flaw detection, as well as faster and more
reliable hardware and enhancements to easy-of-use that improve productivity in
everyday production. AMS had finally achieved what it set out to gain, better
flaw detection and improved productivity. Exactly what is needed for a high-
speed, high-volume component inspection firm such as this one.
Keen to immediately make use of its own innovation, AMS
implemented SmartTest™ into its facilities, and now uses these systems every
single day to remarkable effect. Throughout the whole calendar year for 2019,
downtime was reduced from as much as forty percent on other systems to zero,
whilst the cycle time for a metal stamping application was reduced from six
seconds per part to less than two seconds per part. It isn’t just AMS either,
as other firms have been full of acclamation for the work the AMS team have
done. One firm stated that uptime has been increased to more than 95%, freeing
resources and increasing profitability, whilst another praised the system for
the fact it is fast, user-friendly, and accurate, thereby greatly improving
company quality and productivity.
What began with one man’s desire to protect people has since
evolved into one of the most innovative and exemplary systems for component
inspection currently available in the world today. Mr Miller has spearheaded
the charge to develop and deliver the SmartTest™ product line, and the impact,
though not immediately visible, can be seen almost everywhere.
