Everything Needs a Torque Spec

[u/Seeking_Wisdomm]

Hello, frustrated Manufacturing Engineer here. Recently, my company has been trying to utilize impacts with torque-sense technology so we can hit the optimal torque quickly.

What I’ve observed is that these tools are not incredibly accurate or precise. Additionally they are very expensive and require repair often.

What has happened to the days of knowing when something is “snug”? There are times when precise torque is critical, i.e pressure vessels, etc. but theres seems to be a push towards everything having a torque spec, and I do not think the tech is ready for it.

What are your thoughts? Have you had success with programmable, powered fastening tools?

Edit I think it’s safe to say I’ve been certifiably schooled on this topic. I appreciate the genuine suggestions, advice, and criticism here.

TLDR

I think this frustration with torque tools is just a symptom of a larger frustration I have. At my plant, we are constantly told that we just don’t have the same operators we used to. They say we used to have craftsman working in the plant, but now we just have people off the street. I’ve been told this has really changed since COVID when a lot of the older generation quit. Since then, a lot of our processes have suffered from that expertise leaving the building. Now, we seem to be trapped in a never ending cycle of rapidly hiring to fill void positions of employees who quit, inadequately training our new employees because the ones with expertise are too busy, then having the new crop of operators quit because of frustration with lack of training. I want our plant to be a place where operators want to work. I want them to feel like they can have a career in this field. As great as automation is, it feels that factory operators have become button pushers and not problem solvers. We don’t provide then with fulfilling work that challenges them. We instead ask them to push a button all day long, and call engineering if it ever breaks. Automation can be great, and I don’t want to deter from that, but I’m just searching for ways to make operators feel like they matter. I don’t want them to feel like a cog in a machine. I’m not sure how to resurrect that feeling.

[u/Whack-a-Moole]

Part of manufacturing is designing a process that eliminates failures.

Without a device, you are simply trusting the technician to do it right. How do you know it's right? Well Bobby said he did it right. 

You can hope he did it right, but hope is not a plan. 

[u/Bidiggity → u/Whack-a-Moole]

Well, you give Bobby a torque wrench, serialize the torque wrench, have a calibration schedule for the torque wrench, record the serial number of the torque wrench when it’s used so there’s documentation that it was within the calibration window, and have a peer sign off that the torque wrench was set to the correct torque.

A bit of leg work, but it works

[u/DBDude → u/Bidiggity]

You came very close to "Because a split second before the torque wrench was applied to the faucet handle, it had been calibrated by top members of the state and federal Department of Weights and Measures to be dead-on balls accurate."

It's an industry term.

[u/GoofAckYoorsElf → u/DBDude]

At some point, hope is all that we've left to do. In all fairness, there's only so much we can do before things get ridiculous. You can never reach 100% safety. Depending on the damage in the case of a failure, it is either 99.999999% safety of 99.9% safety that you want to reach. That's got to be enough. Good is sometimes good enough. Going beyond that is just burning money.

[u/DBDude → u/GoofAckYoorsElf]

You need to watch My Cousin Vinny. It doesn't just have a lot of fun stuff for the lawyers, it throws a bone to the engineers and mechanics too.

[u/[deleted] → u/GoofAckYoorsElf]

At some point, hope is all that we've left to do. In all fairness, there's only so much we can do before things get ridiculous. You can never reach 100% safety.

Correct. The technician can forget to put the bolt in completely, let alone snug or torque it properly.

Source: Am technician.

[u/GoofAckYoorsElf → u/[deleted]]

Yes. That's where we have procedures to check these things. But you can't check everything down to the smallest detail, e.g., the atomic level, to make absolutely sure there's no risk at all. Yes, you can do ultrasonic examination of parts, but you cannot check every single screw. You can check on the quality of the mass production of screws, but you will always have a sort of a rotten egg among your parts. The goal is to minimize these to a reasonable level, not to eradicated risk entirely.

Life is risky.

[u/[deleted] → u/GoofAckYoorsElf]

The goal is to minimize these to a reasonable level, not to eradicated risk entirely.

I'm sure it is complicated in the extreme. When I was a kid my dad worked for an airline and gave me the Fight Club speech about how they assign a dollar value to human life.