True to this motto, the application review for chainsaws has been adapted in Functional Development to meet the requirements of both drive technologies.
What was historically begun with gasoline saws a long time ago – namely testing under real conditions in the forest with the team from Development – has been transferred to cordless saws in recent years.
BATTERIES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
The project team also tests a similar range of basic conditions and requirements for cordless saws. For example, different battery packs are used as energy sources instead of different types of fuel. The superior sawing experience expected from STIHL must be achieved with both the recommended battery pack and the smallest acceptable battery.
While the high thermal energy input in the combustion engine impacts the engine and fuel, in cordless chainsaws it is the battery itself that reaches its load limit at high output and therefore a high discharge current. How does the behavior of the cordless saw change in cold or hot conditions, or even in the event of an overheated battery? Does the machine accelerate well in all situations, what is the maximum speed, and how long does a battery last under extreme load? The on-board electronics are also affected by temperature, increasing dirt over the service life, and other environmental conditions.
DIFFERENT TESTING
“Customers naturally want to work professionally and at the highest level with both variants – the combustion saw and the cordless saw. To achieve this, the application tests must be adapted accordingly. After all, the difference is in the details. For example, a cordless saw does not include a carburetor, fuel tank, cylinder or piston that should work together optimally in symbiosis. That said, different matters such as highly complex electronics, different batteries, extensive software and electrical components such as switches and HMIs have to be reviewed from the customer’s perspective,” says Michael Dietenberger (2/CUT), who is Group Manager in the Forestry & Construction Functional Development area.
To this end, the team – usually consisting of the departmental heads for Function Tommy Roitsch (2/CEU)) or Isgard Sabelberg (2/CEY), the respective Group management, Michael Dietenberger (2/CUT), the experts from Testing, Design, System Development Coordination and Claus Kübler (2/CUT-kc), the responsible organizer and operator for all application reviews by Functional Development – spends half a day together in the forest and draws up a defined questionnaire at the end of the day which, together with the live documented results of all machines from each application, leads to detailed feedback.
EXPERIENCE PRODUCTS IN ACTION
In a debrief, the visualized results are discussed and the resulting work packages for the following weeks are defined and prioritized. In this way, the review helps the projects to be more effective and at the same time provides a high degree of transparency in and for the project. “In addition to team-building, another positive effect is being able to experience the product live and in use – after all, we generally deal with individual machine components,” says Claus Kübler(D2/CUT-kc).
