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Arctic
Cat ATV & SxS Factory Tour in Thief River
Falls, MN
::Continued::
One of the things Arctic Cat takes pride in is
the ride experience that its machines offer and
NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness) Lab is where Arctic
Cat tests its units and tries to come up with
new ways to minimize fatigue and comfort factors
such as vibration and noise reduction.
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| The
Arctic Cat ATV / UTV factory also has test
track that is used to ensure the quality
& safety of each vehicle assembled before
it is shipped to dealers |
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| Arctic
Cat's own Kale Wainer hits the muddy test
track |
The Arctic Cat Facility also includes a massive
field test area where all models are put to the
test in practical application environments. Each
ATV is subjected to five plus hours of grueling
testing over varied and rugged conditions each
day, logging in a total of over 125 hours a month.
It would take the average consumer over four years
to put that many miles and hours on their ATV.
To further the process of making sure their customers
are getting the most quality and durability out
of their products Arctic Cat also puts its machines
through strict quality assurance testing. One
of the methods used is Coordinate Measuring Machines
(CMMs), which use electronic lasers and touch
probes to locate various known spots on a chassis,
such as mounting holes, surfaces, material diameters
and edges. By measuring these on an actual chassis
and comparing it to the CAD drawings, engineers
know if a chassis is built to spec or not. Random
units are selected from each product line to ensure
that quality standards are being met.
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On average
over 200 ATVs & around 50 Side-by-Sides
are assembled each day at Arctic Cat's
Facility in Thief River Falls, MN
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There are three production lines at the Thief
River Falls facility. One is for snowmobiles,
the other for ATV’s and the third is for
UTV’s. The lines vary in the number of units
produced over an eight hour shift ranging anywhere
from 120 to 320 units per eight hours. If the
ATV line is producing 240 vehicles per eight hour
shift, that equals an impressive one unit produced
every 112 seconds. The Prowler line produces 45-80
Prowlers per shift and has about 60 employees
that assemble over 900 individual pieces used
in the production of the Prowler.
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