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K&N Engineering, Inc. Opened its Doors to The Society of Automotive Engineers
K&N Engineering, Inc. Opened its Doors to The Society of Automotive Engineers
May 30, 2006
K&N Engineering, Inc. has been the world leader in performance filter technology
for more than 35 years. K&N prides itself as being the innovator of the unique
cotton air filtration system and creating the World’s Best High-Flow Air Filter.
The company serves the needs of the powersports, automotive, marine, and
industrial markets the world over. Creating a high-flow, washable, reusable air
filter put K&N on the map.
Left to Right: K&N's David Shushereba and SAE's Norm Porter
The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has more than 90,000 members. It
shares information and exchanges ideas for the advancement of engineering and
mobility systems. It is essentially a one stop resource for standards
development and technical information that is used in designing, building,
maintaining and operating self-propelled vehicles.
The experts from both sides met, engineer to engineer at K&N headquarters in
Riverside, California. K&N opened its doors to the SAE, with a tour designed to
show technology and protocols.
David Shushereba is the Director of Research & Development at K&N. His
responsibilities include the engineering, design and testing of Air Filters and
Intake Systems developed by K&N, both domestically and internationally. “The
world is black and white to an engineer,” said Shushereba. “There’s one right
answer and all the other ones are wrong, they just want to know what the problem
is and what the solution was.”
Douglas Kruse is a mechanical engineer and the Director of Communications for
the Southern California Chapter of SAE. The group attending the K&N tour was
comprised of engineering students and SAE engineers with general memberships.
“The level of understanding was great engineer to engineer,” said Kruse. “We did
not have to lay a basic foundation before each question.”
Shushereba started the tour by showing the SAE group the operations side of the
K&N manufacturing facility. “They were impressed with how our filters go from
raw materials to finished products,” he said. “We ended the tour in our lab. The
group saw how K&N tests filters, what type of characteristics we look for and
how we manipulate our product to improve on the characteristics, whether it’s
air filter retention or efficiency."
K&N performs thorough tests during development, upon completion and before
release of each and every new filter. Extensive air-flow, dirt retention,
dynamometer and field test are completed in order to validate each of our
product designs. In addition to our own stringent testing, K&N air filter
designs are periodically tested by independent laboratories using standards set
by the SAE.
SAE Tour at K&N Engineering
“The level of detail at K&N on the fundamentals of particulate capture
with the research and development made a vivid impression,” said Kruse. “K&N’s
standards show a dedication to quality with its amount of comparison checking
for manufactured products.”
The tour was beneficial to students to see how theoretical education is applied
to real world problems in the automotive industry. “It was also beneficial to
K&N because we’re able to get our story out with respect to our products and our
abilities,” said Shushereba.
“The entire SAE group was interested in everything at K&N,” said Kruse. “We were
interested in performance applications, along with the amount of research and
development needed to have a product.” There is a lot of thought and testing to
perfect an air filter. “People generally think an air filter just traps dirt,
but there is a lot of engineering and a lot of work that goes into making our
product as good as it gets,” said Shushereba.
K&N’s automotive warehousing system stood out for the SAE group. “The high
degree of automation is something that is greatly appreciated and provides the
best value for customers,” said Kruse.
Kruse built dragster bodies and has a number of patents on engine technology
within the general industry. “I was especially impressed by the race shop. It
was exciting to see a competitive dragster as well as a wide variety of race
cars at K&N,” he said.
SAE presented K&N with a turbo award plaque at the end of the tour. It is given
by the group to presenters for SAE events.
It was good to have SAE at K&N, said Shushereba. “We received detailed answers
and accurate engineering responses,” said Kruse. “K&N’s attention to detail
confirms the K&N standard and dedication to quality.”