Quality Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 58) | CA SE ST U D IES | A good example of this is the ability to do source inspections remotely via e-mail. Clark recently did three in one day, and two a day is not unusual. Instead of traveling to the manufacturing location for the part runoff, Clark has his manufacturing partner e-mail him the measurement program and all of the point data that has been collected, minus the CAD model to reduce the size of the file. “We just can’t afford to have a person out on the road doing single source inspections,” says Clark. “As long as we can get the data, PC-DMIS allows us to analyze anything about the alignment used or relative location of features. Having data you can analyze is at least as good as having a person go to the plant and witness the inspection. We can even manipulate that data later to answer ‘what if ’ questions.” For example, Clark explains that if all holes on one side of a part are found to be skewed, an operator can ask, “What if I shifted this side of the part further consultation with an engineer, after which changes to the metrology programs can be made very quickly. The open architecture of PC-DMIS allows changes to be made to the program at any location in the program and in any sequence. NEVER A TYPICAL DAY With so many parts in various stages of design and manufacturing, it is hard for Clark and his co-workers to predict what will be on the agenda for any given day. “Sometimes you don’t know from hour to hour what job is going to be coming up,” says Clark. “As much as 80% of our hardware is manufactured off lab by various suppliers. We can see when they are due, and we will program the most complex parts in advance so that they are not bottlenecks in the inspection area.” However, JPL’s schedule is not weekly —it is daily to hourly. “We are constantly in contact with each other,” says Clark. “If you get this one, I’ll pick up that one and that sort of thing. Having The five CMMs and a portable measuring system at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) all use PC-DMIS Enterprise Metrology Solutions (EMS) software. Source: Wilcox Associates Inc. common software on different measuring systems gives us the freedom to adapt to this very fluid environment. We often make last minute changes on who inspects what, where and with which equipment.” Concentricity Inspection, up to .00005 T.I.R. Durable - Reliable - Portable - Manual Drive Only Fast loading using our patented clamp roll BOTH MODELS Finished lengths starting at 1/16” (17.4625mm) Special order for shorter lengths Diameters 1/64” to 1 1/4” (0.396875 to 31.75mm) Vertical or Horizontal Mounting RVM-100 Adjustable spring pressure up to 20lbs. MRV-10 Adjustable spring pressure up to 2lbs. Units not designed for grinding. ASCENSION INDUSTRIES, INC. North Tonawanda, NY 14120 Phone: 716-693-9381 Website: www.asmfab.com Email: sales@asmfab.com Quality Quick Clicks 429 at qualitymag.com Quality Quick Clicks 430 at qualitymag.com 58 QUALITY | March 2009 www.qualitymag.com http://www.asmfab.com http://www.asmfab.com http://www.bigc.com/info http://www.qualitymag.com http://www.qualitymag.com http://www.qualitymag.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.