It’s certainly not news that more and more gages are being forced out onto the shop floor. Tight tolerance measurements that were once performed by a trained inspection technician are now being done right next to the machining center, most likely by the machine tool operator. But just because shop floor gaging has become commonplace doesn’t mean that any gage can now be taken out to the shop floor. The gage that the trained inspection technician used may not perform as well in the hands of a machinist, nor may it be capable of keeping up with the rate that the machine is producing parts.
Because of this, standard off-the-shelf gaging may not be the best choice for specific inspection processes at the machine, or for best throughput by the operator. More and more high production facilities are looking to reduce the amount of interaction the operator has with the part. They are there to make parts, not necessarily to handle, measure and move parts.