A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO
METROLOGY Quality is often seen as a policing mechanism, rather than a vehicle for improvement. What manufacturers may not realise is by using metrology to police, rather than improve, they are missing out on a myriad of benefits. Mike G John, head of engineering at industrial metrology specialist, The Sempre Group, shares insight on how to incorporate metrology into production.
The underlying culture in British industry has always been to treat production and quality as two separate entities. Both have their individual targets and the two are often at loggerheads, despite being part of the same process. As a result, coordinate and other essential measurement solutions aren’t used until late in the manufacturing process, when components are taken off the production line to be measured. As well as being a much slower approach, by this stage, it could be too late to rectify any issues. If the product is found to be defective, time and energy has already been wasted on a product that could have been scrapped or saved earlier in the production process. The manufacturer has also lost the opportunity to identify the root cause of any problems. Consequently, it becomes unclear why parts, such as sheet metal components, are not up to specification or aren’t industry compliant — the manufacturer does not know at what stage things went wrong, let alone why. Armed with little information, manufacturers face broad sweeping reworks that can delay production and pile on added costs. A more integrated process would allow them to quickly isolate the compliance issues and rectify them with tool
20
changes, probe realignments or other quick improvements, before product quality is affected. Without streamlined communication between metrology and production, it can also take anywhere up to two weeks to get a product from the shop floor into the quality department — creating a huge bottleneck in the process. By incorporating metrology equipment to perform continuous inspection directly on the line, manufacturers can reduce scrap rates, minimise rework and remove delays. Quality also increases as parts are inspected at multiple stages, so it is easy to identify — and rectify — issues as they occur. Let’s put this in context. A scrap rate of just five per cent can wipe out up to 95 per cent of your profit. The bottom-line benefits of bringing metrology and production together can be huge.
BABY STEPS Shifting approach doesn’t involve an entire overhaul of a production line, but the incorporation of a series of stepping stone technologies. A good first step is to choose smaller parts that are easy to measure and
mvpromedia.eu
