Competitive pressures compounded by increased customer expectations with respect to quality, service and price, has prompted many businesses to seek creative solutions. These manufacturers are experiencing pressure to provide the lowest total cost product with rapid order fulfillment in a highly competitive market. Many companies are launching Lean Value Stream Management (LVSM) initiatives to drive operational excellence and improve profitability.
Automation is at the heart of ISO conformance software. Such software automates internal audits, which helps to ensure, for example, that policies, procedures and work instructions have been approved and that employees are correctly trained. Also, the software automates the management system itself, providing a streamlined process to help ensure that processes and procedures are executed correctly and on time.
There are many applications-aside from those where custom gaging is the only possible solution-where custom tailoring a gage for an application can speed things up, improve accuracy, incorporate multiple measurements, generate sophisticated analysis or otherwise add value to the process.
The need for faster results is felt throughout an organization, including the engineering and quality groups that must maintain the expected level of quality of these rapid to market products. In order to remain steadfast to the quality standards within an organization, it must strive to improve processes and efficiencies while keeping short- and long-term spending in check. One way to meet this challenge is through the use of modular fixturing, which provides flexibility along with repeatability to accomplish numerous tasks while maintaining the overall needed accuracy.
I’m surprised at some of the ideas that drift down from the loftier realms of the corporate world in the endless quest to reduce costs. In many cases, the assumption is that a philosophy that appears to work in one area of a company’s operations can be applied to all areas.
The scenario: a large U.S. manufacturer with a history of a well-measured approach to quality and production is directed by its board to increase profits and market share, and to do so quickly.
The International Manufacturing Show 2008 (IMTS) is a distant memory for some, but for many manufacturers and equipment suppliers it’s just the beginning.
Vision dimensional metrology should not be confused with machine vision. While both are based on image analysis, vision dimensional metrology systems generally are off-line or near-line systems, collecting dimensional data points in 2-D or 3-D, analogous to those collected by coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).
Turbocam International supplies both production and prototype bladed parts to aerospace, automotive and industrial turbomachinery OEMs. Part precision and uniformity are critical in providing dynamic balance, directed airflow and long, reliable service at high rotational speeds. However, efficient inspection of ever-increasing numbers of complex parts was frustrated by slow, tedious, stop-and-go measurement inspection on a legacy 3+2 axis CMM.
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