With the help of microscopy and imaging technologies, as well as automation, manufacturing is making great strides toward more advanced and efficient processes for building bigger and better things.

It all started with the wheel. Moving things, and ourselves, across distances became easier and more efficient with the wheel. Over the centuries, we progressed from carts we pushed ourselves to wagons pulled by animals we domesticated and trained.

The quality lab is a critical component to manufacturing companies, especially when preparing parts for production, routine inspection and also product development.

The first thing we can do to understand revolution versus evolution is to turn to the pure definition of these two words. The word evolution˜refers to the gradual development or changes in something over a period. 

The fundamental goal of automation is to reduce reliance on manpower. Whether for traditional manufacturing or additive manufacturing, it is important to understand the capabilities of supporting post-process manufacturing and metrology for validating that process.

For decades, many manufacturers have counted on robots to tirelessly produce parts of predictable quality. One of the key attributes of robots is their repeatability, which means that their tool tip will return to the same pre-programmed location with a known and relatively small error.

So, what do we mean when we talk of post-process monitoring? Quite simply, it is the process used to monitor both the process and the finished product against their specifications, which include logging process routines and results in order to inform the machining and finalizing of the product.

Leak testing is a quality control measure used by manufacturers to identify product inconsistencies that occur during manufacturing or assembly.

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. 

The robotics industry is not slowing down. Last year the robotics industry shipped more robots to North America than ever before. And companies today are figuring out that they can utilize machine vision and robotics in many new applications.