These days, the employees from the development department at MAPAL Dr. Kress KG generally know within an hour if new tools will offer the level of precision their customers require. Instead of having to wait days for a service provider to deliver the measurement results, the company started performing on-site measurements at the beginning of 2018. With the high-precision coordinate measuring machine ZEISS PRISMO ultra, MAPAL inspects the workpieces machined with the new tools it manufactures. The time saved on measurements helps this global company develop innovative tool solutions even more quickly for trends that will play such a pivotal role in the future like eMobility.

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.

Shops of all sizes and types are feeling pressure from customers to improve consistency and quality of the machining process. As tolerances are being tightened in high-volume manufacturing settings, such as a manufacturing cell or transfer line, simply delivering parts that satisfy documentation and regulatory requirements is no longer the gold standard.

Coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) have long been known for their precision and accuracy in tactile measurements. With probe and sensor systems capable of high-speed scanning at measurement errors of fractions of a micrometer, CMMs are the gold standard of quality measurement.

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.