A few months ago, if Rus Emerick wanted to inspect a manufactured part, it could take as long as three weeks and cost as much as $16,000. Today, he can do it in two days at little cost.
Emerick, who is a staff designer at the Cedar Rapids, IA, plant of electrical products maker Square D, is using new software that combines the speed of noncontact 3-D scanning with a new level of simplicity for computer-aided inspection (CAI).