APM Fossil Proves Their Dedication to Innovation and Simplification Through a Cool Tool Creation

When you want innovative techniques, APM delivers. A member of our APM Fossil West Team, Art Diaz, recently helped to design and implement a tool that produced tremendous cost savings for our customer. During the job, the customer requested replacement of the 3rd stage aft wheel discourager seal that GE Engineering, Shop and Legacy partners said could be completed in the field, but it would require mobilization of special equipment (boring bar setup) with on-site machining specialists. GE Field Engineer, Howard Nguyen, came up with a tool idea to grind out the old discourager seals and worked with Art to make it into a reality. Together, they engineered a tool that removed the old seals, installed new seals and ground the seal teeth to achieve rotor axial clearances in the field.  The design required minimal costs to create but saved the customer the expenses of specialty equipment and additional labor. The customer was so impressed with the design and grateful for the job cost reduction that they wanted to express their appreciation by recognizing the team that worked on this special project. What a well-deserved honor! Art was a fabricator before he joined the Millwright apprenticeship, and he has worked on several device designs since. We are proud of his creativity and dedication to process simplification! This specific tool is being passed up to GE Engineering and Tooling Productivity teams to see if it can be leveraged and utilized as a best practice throughout the business. Congratulations, Art!