Quality Control in Prototype and Small Series Production with ZEISS High-End Measuring Machine

While the ramp up for mass production allows for multiple adjustment loops so that the machinery accommodates manufacturer requirements, prototypes must be within tolerance right from the get go. "This makes the manufacturing process exciting, like a good mystery," says Andreas Löffler. This industrial engineer at Stangl & Co. GmbH is responsible for quality and process management. If just one characteristic is not within tolerance, then companies are forced to invest a lot of time and effort in finding the cause, e.g. calculating the interactions of individual components or eliminating unwanted effects by performing adjustments in other areas. "This means a lot of work that eats up valuable development time which you simply do not have if you want to compete globally," says Löffler. This explains why the time and resources devoted to measurements during prototype construction has increased tenfold over the past five years. And that is not all. "The requirements for documenting the measuring results have kept pace with the effort needed for the measurements themselves."

With the ZEISS XENOS, the length error is just 0.3 micrometers with a measuring range of just under one cubic meter. Thanks to this high level of precision, Löffler and his colleagues can, for example, determine if workpiece clamping has caused a roundness error. "This makes troubleshooting a lot faster and ultimately optimizes all our processes," says the Quality Engineer. Another system feature also impressed the company: measurements on the XENOS are performed more quickly thanks to the machine's linear drive. In order to speed up the measuring process even further, ZEISS developed a rotary table for the ZEISS XENOS. This add-on makes the measuring machine in Roding one-of-a-kind, reducing the number of stylus change outs, even when inspecting highly complex components. "We've already noticed how much time we've saved," reports Löffler.