KAWASAKI MOTORS SOLVES ENGINEERING CHALLENGE WITH SPECIALIZED TRAINING
Over the past nine years, Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing (KMM) in Maryville has been experiencing increasing demand for its engines. The company has expanded by adding new semi-automated production lines, die-casting machinery, and assembly lines. These new lines allow the company to maintain high quality standards while improving efficiency.
However, a major challenge occurred when an older machining line’s robotic vision system camera was damaged. This camera was vital to the automation of the production line. Without it, the system could no longer function as intended. KMM needed to replace the camera and have someone program the new system. Unfortunately the engineer who originally set up the system had since left the company and no one on staff had the experience or expertise to work on the replacement. Downtime is expensive so KMM had to act fast. They needed to fix the damaged camera and train their engineers to program the new system.
To solve this pressing issue, the company partnered with Northwest Technical School (NTS) in Maryville. Aided by training funds from Missouri One Start, KMM received the necessary RAIO and application-specific training for its engineering team. Through NTS, KMM partnered with a specialized company that provided on-site training for the engineers, ensuring they gained the skills to program, maintain, and troubleshoot the new robotic vision system.
The training was a huge success, allowing multiple engineers across the team to be upskilled simultaneously to deal with a time-sensitive issue.
“Thanks to the support from NTS and the Missouri One Start grant, we were able to solve a critical problem efficiently and cost-effectively,” says [KMM representative’s name here]. “The outcome was not just the successful installation and programming of the new camera, but the empowerment of our engineering team to handle similar challenges with confidence moving forward. The grant funding was pivotal to ensure we could keep production running smoothly during this challenge and continue to innovate in our operations.”
About Missouri One Start:
Missouri One Start is a Division within the Department of Economic Development. Training programs are administered regionally by local education agencies (LEAs). In addition to meeting certain eligibility criteria, companies must be making a capital investment five times greater than the amount of training funds they receive.
