Articles by Darryl Seland

Digital gaging, or the software and hardware used to take and process digital measurements, has grown considerably in the past 20 years. It has also come a long way when it comes to advancing quality.  

The linchpin of automation—since before it was even referred to as such—is in its obvious benefits in increased efficiency and accuracy and its ultimate reduction in cost, time and waste. 

Automated inspection systems help to improve the quality of parts and products. With few experienced CMM operators in the field, manufacturers are progressively turning to automated quality control solutions to not only stop production bottlenecks but also to boost the quality of the parts being inspected.

Quality data can help manufacturers to advance quality and streamline their operations – if they collect it properly. 

In today’s challenging manufacturing environment, quality obstacles can be difficult to foresee and prevent—and recover from.

Quality control can be held up by complex parts which take time to measure, internal issues such as non-compliance and rework, and external problems, such as customer complaints. These challenges slow down productivity.

Portable coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) are reliable measurement tools that help to minimize product defects.

3D scanning is the process of digitally gathering an object’s surface data to determine its shape, enabling users to either replicate the part by reverse-engineering it, or inspect it through dimensional analysis. 

Quality is hard to get right, regardless of industry. Many organizations treat quality implementation efforts, such as product quality tracking, to be burdensome but necessary.