In the manufacturing industry, the importance of metrology, or the science of measurement, is often underestimated. However, inspection is critical for ensuring products work and operate safely.
Innovate, Integrate, Collaborate are more than just marketing keywords. A number of metrology and software companies I visited at IMTS are putting their development dollars to work in these areas and showing off the results.
Considered by many to be the “Father of Quality Management,” Dr. Joseph M. Juran is recognized as the man who added a human dimension to quality, expanding it from its statistical origins to a broader management science.
LIMS—the Low Investment Manufacturing System—is an unassuming little box consisting of a computer with proprietary Solution Engine software and an I/O hub that plugs into a standard outlet. When wired at the edge of a piece of production equipment, it becomes a simple solution for collecting and sharing complex sensor-derived data.
Roush Yates Engines explored ways to improve the accuracy, integrity and throughput of its measurement data, and decided to implement DataSure 4.0, a data acquisition solution developed by The L.S. Starrett Co.
Machining, the military and magnificent beaches work well together in Okaloosa County, Florida. Famous sugar-white sands are frosting on the cake when companies examine the business-friendly climate, educational opportunities and quality of life in Okaloosa County.
Manufacturing workers are financially stressed, which can lead to distractions on the job and increased absenteeism. Helping relieve some of that stress may lead to increased workforce productivity and can give you a strategic advantage in attracting and retaining key talent.
A Michigan company that displays instructions for manual manufacturing processes on work stations via augmented reality (AR) is adding wearables to provide similar guidance.
Structured light systems measure surfaces by projecting a pattern of fringes, then using cameras and sophisticated software to convert them into point clouds of metrology data. Accuracy can reach the single-digit microns over millions of points.
With the number of offline and in-process toolsetting options on the rise, developing a way to efficiently utilize this technology can be confusing. Which presetter should we buy? What about the software that’s so often part of these systems—do we really need it?
