MICRO METROLOGY | CASE STUDY
Manufacturing these different tools places high demands on the design, selection of material, production technology and, last but not least, the measuring technology. The key to the company's success lies in the process that covers everything from the selection of the raw material to the entire value chain within its own four walls. This ensures that KWS Kölle always has quality and costs under control.
Wide range of materials and machines KWS Kölle utilises many different raw materials to make its tools. They can be comprised of steel and hard metal, to polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and titanium alloys, up to ceramic and plastic. The company advises its clientele extensively in the selection of material and generally oversees the design. An extensive list of equipment is available to the 50 specialists and trainees for machining. This includes 11 milling, 11 grinding, six lathes and nine erosion machines. 70% of the buyers of these tools come from the automotive industry; the remaining 30% can be found in the medical technology, mechanical engineering, electronics and cosmetics industries.
It's all about accuracy Regardless of where the tools are used, there is one aspect in which KWS is uncompromising: "It's all about accuracy when it comes to making tools," said President Helmut Hübner. "After all, we want to ensure the quality of the workpieces made with our tools." Therefore, it goes without saying that KWS inspects all of its products, especially because most of the tools are one-off items or manufactured in small batches. Customer demands on precision have increased significantly in recent years: "In the past, the dimensions of the tools usually had to be accurate down to five micrometers; now two micrometers is not a rare occurrence," said Hübner. He holds up a tool to give an example of how minute this is: "Just holding this workpiece in my hand causes its shape to change several micrometers due to the heat generated by my hand." Until a few years ago, KWS relied on external measuring labs to ensure the high precision. This led to delays in production and also meant that some errors were not detected until the next manufacturing step. This resulted in additional costs. Furthermore, it contradicted the company's slogan of doing everything itself. Therefore, KWS decided in 2011 to purchase a new measuring machine.
27 | commercial micro manufacturing international Vol 7 No.4
Ease of use To find the right system, the company compared the sample measurements taken on machines from various providers. In addition to high precision, the test came down to whether or not the machine could be used at temperatures above 21 degrees Celsius. After all, it wouldn't be used in a separate measuring lab, but in an air-conditioned production hall. KWS wanted to access the measuring machine directly from production without having to wait for the workpieces to acclimatise.
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