Process Management – Emissions Compliance

Process depiction to assure the emissions certification process

Emissions certification for combustion engines that are used in commercial vehicle drivetrains, such as in semitrucks, buses, stationary or mobile machines, or as large engines in ships or electricity generators, takes place using the exhaust emissions at an engine test bench.

In light of the worldwide technical guidelines and ordinances, special measuring principles, measuring and testing procedures, and data post-processing have to be taken into consideration in an engine testing system. Adherence to the guidelines and ordinances is assured through internal audits or through so-called certification audits.  

These require uniform process depiction and documentation for the entire emissions certification process for all engine projects. Within the scope of this task at large engine manufacturer MTU Friedrichshafen, PEC was commissioned to take up the current emissions certification process, to compare it with all relevant stakeholders, to develop a tool for depiction, and, finally, to design the emissions certification process at MTU to be audit-proof for the future through the tool’s rollout, including employee training.  

Essential phases of the project were:

• Development of the entire process depiction of the emissions certification process, from the initial stocktaking to the modeling, all the way to adaptation following the consultation with other departments
• Layout development and the inclusion of altogether 83 process descriptions for the further detailing of the processes at different levels
• Agile development of an appealing depiction tool including the programming of customer-specific ranges of functions, with functions like searching and changing languages
• Selection of an appropriate documentation system for the accessibility of the tool
• Rollout of the emissions certification process under the code word “EmCP”
• Training of all employees involved in development (approx. 160 employees) in large training sessions, and all employees who directly participate in EmCP in smaller training sessions