Quality control managers have the delicate task of verifying and guaranteeing that manufacturied parts meet customers' requirements, specifications and tolerances.

Measurement is vital to any manufacturing business, providing essential information to control processes and verify products. But older co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) can become bottlenecks if they fail to keep pace with changing measurement needs.

Statistical process control (SPC) charts are used in quality-focused facilities to monitor process output on a continual basis and alert process operators, managers and the support staff in real-time when the process is shifting towards an undesirable condition.

With the resurgence of manufacturing in the United States has come a high demand for flexible quality inspection systems in the production environment. 

Surfaces are designed into products to reduce friction, “store” lubricants, provide a high luster finish or be the proper texture to hold paint (but not show the actual surface of the paint). 

The need for nondestructive evaluation on large quantity production components is becoming more achievable with CT technology due to the advances in machine hardware and processing techniques over the past few years.

To choose the right 3D surface measurement tool, an engineer must carefully consider the size of the object, the speed of the scan and analysis, and a customer’s tolerance requirements.

This white paper explains the main aspects of ISO 10360 and, in particular, ISO 10360-7, the standard for inspecting coordinate measuring machines with imaging probing systems. Learn why ZEISS chose this standard, how this standard benefits customers and what you need to keep in mind in the implementation.

In a previous article, we observed how multi-sensor CMMs can perform 2D and 3D measurements interchangeably in a single run. Today, high-precision CMMs also can carry out form measurement functions, says David Wick, product manager at ZEISS Industrial Metrology.

Quite often in manufacturing, an inspection department is treated primarily as a necessary overhead expense required to assure compliance to customer specifications. Sometimes an inspection department may also be treated as a profit center for compliance to a variety of test protocols dictated by external agencies, or perhaps internal procedures to demonstrate traceability to certain quality standards.