Dear Test Devices Customers and Friends

April 1, 2012

As I contemplated the introduction to our first ever Newsletter I found myself with a severe case of writer’s block. The significant changes we have experienced over my short five year tenure as President left me wondering about where to begin. As I thought hard about our recent successes however, and how to communicate the state and direction of our company in a meaningful way it became clear to me how to begin this letter – Thank You!

Our recent growth and achievements and history since the company was founded by Eric Sonnichsen are a direct result of your faith and trust in Test Devices. Your challenging requirements and willingness to work with us have driven many of our advancements in the test methods we employ as well as the equipment we manufacture.

We have been very busy over the past several years. Besides moving to a 24,000 square foot facility at 571 Main Street we have also evolved our capabilities and capacity to better serve the gas turbine test industry. Some of these initiatives include:

Personnel

Increased engineering staff and formed dedicated test engineering group
Instituted dedicated inspection group
Instituted second shift for production related spin work

Equipment

Added fifth test cell and upgraded controls in several rigs
Doubled liquid jet HCF testing capacity
Added CMM capability (machine and programming)
Added in-house NSMS capability (Agilis Systems) & HCF strain capability (EDAS)
Increased balancing capacity

Quality

Implemented gated process for all design and testing operations
Instituted vendor ranking and certification processes
Achieved/maintained AS9100/IS0 9001 certifications
Achieved CE certification status for manufactured equipment
Implemented customer feedback processes

Capabilities, Testing

Enhanced thermal gradient testing (tolerances, oven design, control)
Increased commercial HCF blade testing (ambient, hot)
Completed thermal mechanical fatigue test rig prototype
Developed methods for hot radial growth measurement, to burst
Developed heated testing capability to 2000F and conceptual design of static blade test rig

Capabilities, Equipment

Completed electric drive development, currently deploying
Developed sophisticated FEA based model to evaluate containment design and capability
Completed 1160 Tachometer for improved speed control
Upgraded controls and data acquisition to industry standard platforms (Alan Bradley, National Instruments, Bentley Nevada, etc.)

Needless to say…we have been busy!

In 2012 we plan to continue enhancing our internal processes, upgrading our in-house fabrication capabilities, increase our operating footprint, and invest in our greatest asset – skilled people in the rotating testing domain. Our technical focus for the year is:

Enhanced HCF capabilities (hotter, higher order modes, increased strain amplitudes)
Next generation of differentiating TDI technologies: real time crack detection for LCF testing and in-pit balancing
Expansion of our electric drive offerings
Implementation of geared and direct electric drives

I would like to thank you again for your continued business and support as we work to better serve your needs. I am always interested in what our customers have to say so I encourage you to call or e-mail me anytime.