Spang Magnetics, a division of Spang & Company, Inc., is a prime supplier of magnetic ferrite cores to the U.S. military.  These components are used in signal noise filtering and electrical power regulation applications.

Inductance testing operations for these components had become a production bottleneck for Spang.  "We could produce ferrite cores more quickly than we could test them" said Harry Pierson, Engineering Supervisor for Magnetics.  "We contacted SIUE's Advanced Manufacturing Unit to determine the feasibility of developing an automated inductance testing system."

Spang's problem was made more complex by the diversity of its ferrite core part family.  The company produces more than 1,500 different types of cores, each with unique electrical specifications.  "We developed a software package with the ability to reach into the company's corporate database, extract the information necessary to set up the particular test to be run, initiate the test procedure by communicating with a modern LCR meter, acquire the test results, and finally log that data in the Spang corporate Excel spreadsheet for statistical analysis" said Dr. Kevin Hubbard, SIAM Director.  "One of our biggest challenges was "foolproofing" - Spang needed to make sure that only authorized personnel could modify software and test parameters, access test results, and things of that nature."

"SIAM captured our requirements perfectly, and in fact they added software package features that we hadn't thought of ourselves", said Pierson.  "We were very happy with the deliverables from this project."

SIAM has been named a "Preferred Supplier of Research Services" to Spang Magnetics.  Only one other organization - Carnegie Mellon University - holds this distinction.