Industrial & Manufacturing Consulting

How we help clients

• Equipment Design for Safety & Reliability

  Safe manufacturing starts with the equipment itself. We help suppliers conduct advanced engineering studies to identify and remediate potential sources of accident and failure risk.

  From the metals and plastics machines are made of to the physical stresses they must withstand, we help identify what could fail and what would happen if it did. In many cases, we are helping explain real-world failures with the goal of preventing them from happening again.

  Beyond the machines themselves, our human factors and biomechanics experts study how people interact with machines. Are there foreseeable challenges in how they're used? Do these challenges create hazards? Do warnings and instructions address these hazards?

  We have expertise across all types of manufacturing and industrial equipment, including:

  • Boom Lifts
  • Elevators
  • Escalators
  • Forklifts
  • Mechanical Conveyors
  • Powered Industrial Trucks
  • Pneumatic Conveyors
  • Presses
  • Shredders

• Factory & Industrial Risk Audits

  The impact of downtime or injuries can be crippling to an industrial business. Even after investing millions in equipment, companies can still have uncertainties about whether their systems and processes are safe and reliable. Management becomes increasingly difficult with the use of third-party contractors.

  Exponent specializes in systems thinking, looking across your equipment and processes to understand the risks posed by machines and humans alike.

  Whether it's mitigating a dust explosion hazard in a food plant or eliminating contamination sources on a pharmaceutical production line, Exponent assembles custom teams to tackle your unique challenges.

  From steel mills to paper mills, the production line to the warehouse, and circuit breakers to the break room, we are experienced in identifying what can go wrong and helping you prevent or fix it.

  Case study

  How Can Manufacturing Safety Keep Pace with Technology?

  A major battery manufacturer setting up a new technology needed to understand how new processes would impact worker safety and turned to Exponent for a broad multifaceted assessment.

  

• Buildings & Infrastructure

  Some operational issues start with the buildings themselves. For facilities that are both high use and highly trafficked, it's crucial to ensure your new (and existing) buildings are designed to handle the types of stresses your production may place on them.

  Our buildings and structures and construction consulting experts can evaluate facility design and troubleshoot issues to ensure risks are identified and mitigated, including: 

  • We take particular care with identifying potential fire hazards (such as lithium-ion battery storage) and ensuring fire suppression has been properly specified.
  • We can bring civil engineers onsite to study soils and assess whether there is a risk of the floor cracking underneath heavy equipment.
  • Many industrial operations require their own power grids. Our electrical engineers look for issues with transformers, switches, and on-site generation, such as wind, solar, and generators.
  • We evaluate piping systems for risks of "water hammer," where the rapid closing of valves can create shock waves strong enough to rupture pipes and seals.

• Accident & Failure Investigation

  Accidents in industrial settings can be fast and serious. For example, machinery jams that send metal parts flying or moving parts that catch clothing, causing injuries. If the unimaginable does occur, you can rely on Exponent's preeminent expertise in uncovering the root causes and contributing factors of what went wrong.

  Our 50+ years of experience across all manner of incidents, from refinery explosions to worker accidents, enable us to provide detailed, actionable insights on why an incident happened — and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

  • Did the machine operate as intended? Was the design appropriate?
  • Did a part of the machine fail? What caused the failure?
  • Did workers follow procedures? If so, were the procedures adequate for safety?
  • Did workers disable or defeat any safety mechanisms?
  • Did human error play a role? Did factors such as fatigue or training contribute to those errors?

• Manufacturing Process Control & Quality Assurance

  Excellence in manufacturing operations requires a deep understanding of processes and products, translated into long-term solutions — not just short-term fixes. Exponent engineers and scientists use data-driven approaches based on sound scientific principles to help manufacturers:

  • Assess their quality systems to understand opportunities for improvement
  • Conduct troubleshooting and root cause analysis
  • Institute procedures and frameworks that position organizations for enduring high-quality results
  • Solve stubborn problems and implement permanent corrective actions

  Industry Analysis

  Lessons from Asia for North American Battery Manufacturers

  As a new battery belt develops through licensed equipment and technology, factories can benefit from focusing on operational maturity

  

• Environmental & Health Impacts

  Many industrial operations are facing increasing scrutiny over the impact of their operations on the environment and human health. 

  Our multidisciplinary scientific and engineering teams can give you a clear understanding of how your activities may affect the surrounding air, soil, and water. We've conducted significant work related to major spills and ongoing issues such as the effect of fracking on groundwater quality.

  Across hundreds of projects for industrial companies, we've helped clients:

  • Conduct ecological and human health studies 
  • Design and deploy water and air monitoring networks
  • Guide the safe storage and usage of hazardous substances
  • Engineer remediation for existing issues
  • Model the dispersion, fate, and transport of pollutants

• Sustainability

  Beyond the impacts of your operations on the environment and human health today, Exponent also helps you think "big picture" about the potential effects of climate change on your business, now and in the future. How will your energy supplies change? How might regulations evolve? How can your operations prepare for weather extremes?  How will the availability of natural resources affect your supply chain?

• Disputes

  Exponent knows manufacturing inside and out. Clients turn to us when they need to objectively understand what went wrong and why. From rates of production to safety standards, we've helped analyze issues across hundreds of projects. When you need to understand the situation at hand, we bring principled science to the task — telling you what you need to know, not what you want to hear.

  Exponent scientists and engineers represent the science at dispute proceedings by bringing clarity, precision, and a knack for explaining complicated topics in understandable ways.

  We offer assistance across all phases of disputes, including pre-litigation, fact-finding, and expert testimony in a variety of dispute resolution settings.