Ventura Systems
Project

Unified testing solution for door leaves Ventura Systems

Automatic testing framework ensures high quality

  • 8 October 2024
  • 4 min

Ventura Systems is a leading manufacturer of innovative door systems for urban transport. Their door systems must therefore be extremely reliable. Thanks to its technical domain knowledge, ICT Group has been able to develop a unified test solution, in close collaboration with Ventura engineers, that meets the highest requirements of their customers.

Ventura Systems is a leading manufacturer of innovative door systems for urban transport. They supply many renowned bus manufacturers worldwide. Gerrit Visser is project leader at Ventura and has been involved in this DLTS (Door Leaf Test System) project from the start. He explains what was the occasion of this project and why they selected ICT Group to carry it out: "In the past, we used a switch box to test our doors manually. While this was a common method, it offered opportunities for improvement as the results were depended on the user. Each employee approaches testing in their own way, which could affect the unity of the test results. That's why we wanted to switch to an automatic testing system for our 'end of line' test in our production environment. In this way test results are uniform, dispatched to a database so we can share the test report immediately with customers, for example in case of a malfunction or a complaint."

Selection of suppliers

"Internally, we had the expertise, but not the capacity to implement this project ourselves. That is why we first approached a number of external suppliers, of which we continued with two and eventually ICT Group was our first choice as most suitable supplier. We had good conversations with them, the solution they proposed exuded confidence, the way of working appealed to us and ICT Group is ISO9001 certified, a requirement for Ventura's suppliers. Another important condition was that we wanted to have an automated testing system, which tests all door systems for the same quality, regardless of which operator is involved."

Intensive process

"We started working on the project in the autumn of 2022. We developed the electronic components and drawn up the system specifications ourselves. ICT Group first translated these into the written software specifications. In the beginning, we had a daily meetings where we tested expectations and we made progress step by step. Subsequently, a team of engineers from ICT Group set up the test framework and developed a user interface, built the link with the server and created an overview of the embedded software. It was an intensive process that was necessary to achieve the desired result: delivering doors that meet our standards 100%."

Ventura Systems deursysteem

Iterative improvement process

"The first concept was ready in the summer of 2023. After the internal approval, ICT Group started developing the software and the PC application. After that, Ventura engineers started working on the development and control of the electrical components. In the third phase, the hardware and software was tested in the production environment. We worked in side by side for about six months, during which we double-tested a small number of doors. This meant that we used both the old method with the manually operated box and the automatic testing system developed by ICT Group. In fact, we followed an iterative process where we were able to improve the testing system each time."

"In the end, we developed four components: a website as a user interface, a PC application and 2 electronic components with associated embedded applications. The unified testing system went live in early 2024. Afterwards, we made some minor updates to improve the test system and ICT Group transferred its knowledge to our team. The system is now working smoothly and exactly how we want it. Despite that, we have now started the process of continuous improvement to make it even better. ICT Group can also play a role in this."

Successful collaboration

"After an intensive testing phase with some adjustments, everyone is now positive about the test system. We work with it on a daily basis and this goes smoothly without any problems. The added value of ICT Group is reflected in the expertise of their people with these types of projects, their technical domain knowledge in areas as diverse as embedded software, testing and user interfaces, and the excellent way in which they have worked with our team members. Building such a test system is not our core business, so if ICT Group successfully completes this project under our guidance, we achieved our goal. There is a concept that we could also use for other tests. We now also work together in other areas of software development and share knowledge and experience with each other. For me, this marks a successful partnership."

Ventura

About Ventura Systems

Ventura Systems is the leading manufacturer of innovative door systems for urban transport. Their products are delivered worldwide to many renowned manufacturers of buses, urban trucks and autonomous vehicles. They focus on the development of reliable, safe and state-of-the-art door systems for high intensive use.

More information?

Please contact our experts
Freek Stegink

Freek Stegink

Sr. Business Unit Manager
+31 088 908 2000
Marco Boeve

Marco Boeve

Sr. Operations Manager Machine & Systems