Marposs owes not only its name to its founder Mario Possati, but also its spirit.

From the great automotive boom of the 1950s to today, the Bologna-based company has been able to anticipate industry’s need for in-line measurement during production, data management and analysis, and the expansion of sensor technologies. This drive towards innovation has made it a benchmark in measurement, inspection, and testing.

In 1952, Mario Possati had the intuition that it was crucial to measure a component during its processing and, therefore, directly inside a machine tool. It was this vision that laid the foundations for the birth of Marposs.

In the 1950s, the automotive industry faced an epochal challenge: to meet the growing demand for cars by producing metal components with unprecedented precision. To achieve these standards, it was necessary to develop technologies capable of grinding materials to the last micron of precision, while maintaining a high production rate and zero margin for error.

Possati was among the first to devise an innovative solution: a measuring instrument that, integrated into machine tools, quickly became a standard for the industry. That product, updated with the latest technologies, is still one of the pillars of the company’s offering today.

The Art Of Data Management

Over the years, industrial metrology has evolved and Marposs has been able to guide its progress. While initially the measurement data was used only to optimize material removal during machining, Possati realized that this data had much greater potential. Technology then improved the capabilities of sensors, making them more accurate, miniaturized, and faster. But the most significant progress has been in the use of measurement data. In fact, measuring a component means determining its actual dimensions, shape characteristics, and deviation from design values. It was no longer just a matter of knowing the dimensions of a component or deciding how much material to remove from a component being machined, but of analyzing and optimizing the entire production process, ensuring quality, efficiency, and competitiveness. This vision led to the development of a range of electronic systems capable of collecting, processing, and transferring measurement data to customers' automation systems.

This made it possible to monitor the performance of production lines, improve processes, and respond to the growing demands of the automotive industry, where precision and reliability had become essential.

Computing Power

With production volumes increasing to meet mass market demand, product quality took on a central role, as customers became increasingly attentive to product performance and durability over time. Ensuring high standards required production line operators to take measurements with micron precision, extending to all details of a component.

Technology played a crucial role in achieving these goals: powerful computers were needed, capable of processing thousands of points acquired in real time and operating under high industrial stress conditions. Therefore, Marposs invested significant resources in the development of a line of industrial computers with unmatched performance and robustness.

These systems were designed to meet the needs of global leaders in the automotive industry, from Germany to Japan and the United States, united in their pursuit of uncompromising quality.

Non-contact Measurement

Over the years, Marposs has expanded its range of activities, introducing technologies based on optical measurement.

At first, this innovation was met with skepticism: the idea of contactless measurement seemed to contradict the traditional principle that precision measurement necessarily required touching the component.

However, the company demonstrated that optical measurement, supported by digital processing algorithms, was capable of delivering reliable results even in complex industrial environments.

Thanks to these technologies, it became possible to perform quality checks at unprecedented speeds, analyze the entire surface of components, and reconstruct their entire geometry in 3D. In addition, the images collected can be stored for traceability purposes and further analyzed with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, paving the way for new applications such as automatic identification of surface defects or component classification.

A Future Of Continuous Innovation

Today, Marposs continues to follow the vision of its founder. The ability to anticipate customer needs and respond to technological challenges has made the company a strategic partner for leaders in the automotive, aerospace, and many other industries. The current phase of development focuses on integrating artificial intelligence into measurement and quality control processes. Advanced data processing, combined with sensor accuracy and system robustness, allows for levels of automation and reliability that were unthinkable just a few years ago.