Mold and tool makers are under pressure to reduce their throughput times and unit costs in order to stay in business. How much of a competitive edge do companies enjoy with a zero-point clamping system and a measuring machine? The CEO of WESCHU GmbH ran the numbers.

The simple shaft is one of the ubiquitous items in every mechanical system. Shafts contain a number of key functional elements, such as splines, tapers, grooves, threads, cams and gears, which all have associated critical dimensions to allow these mechanical systems to perform the function for which they were designed.

In-line/near-line measurement provides the potential for fast, flexible, efficient inspection that increases throughput without compromising quality.

Tritech Precision Products Yeovil* manufactures production quantities of high-quality investment castings in air and vacuum. It supplies to customers in aerospace, medical, power generation, vehicle components, safety equipment, railway and general engineering.

Every year, GE Oil and Gas invites customers to an open house at its factory in Florence, Italy. This year 800 customers saw the results of a GE Oil and Gas New Technology Introduction project - a DEA Global coordinate measuring machine (CMM), retrofitted with a Renishaw REVO® system and measuring impeller parts at a dramatic speed.

While a high-performance measuring machine is a prerequisite for staying competitive, many quality managers are not achieving maximum efficiency and quality with their coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).

No one wants to spend time making scrap, and automation is one way to avoid or at least minimize quality issues. Rather than spending time making products that aren’t up to specification, operators will make good parts and catch quality issues earlier. 

Sensors are an essential part of a metrology system, and there are several key factors that inform a buyer’s choice. These include ease of use, accuracy, speed and cost. Comparing the options can involve both analysis of features and actual demonstration of capabilities, but to get meaningful information for either you have to ask the right questions.

If you’re looking for more data in less time, 3D scanning may be a good choice for your application.

Two years ago, Process Engineer Bill Roberts and his team at Minnesota-based Roberts Automatic Products, Inc., were looking to improve the company’s statistical process control (SPC) and its overall data collection processes.