Measurement & Inspection
is doubly true with increasing automation. Especially in the aircraft world, metrology has transitioned into enabling what he terms ‘determinant manufacturing,’ enabling less tooling and more metrology-assisted assembly.
“While the equipment, software, and hardware were so capable of performing so many amazing measurement opera- tions, we felt that the operators were getting left behind,” he said. “It was diffi cult for an operator to stay abreast of the tech- nology. There was no credential or way that an operator could develop themselves professionally, to stay on top of the industry, and the certifi cation seems to play well into that.” A certifi cation program would both legitimize the fi eld and help qualify who was capable of operating effectively in this new world. The second reason was pressure from the industry itself, in the growing body of third-party service providers and their customers. “For instance, the nuclear industry requires credentialing of professionals who perform contract work, but for metrologists, that did not exist,” he said. Now, at least for portable CMMs, it does.
Initial certifi cation requires two years of experience in the
fi eld. There is also a peer review, and an applicant is required to provide four references, according to Gruver. Those refer- ences receive a letter asking for specifi c information on apti- tude and ethics. A written, proctored exam with 196 questions is then offered to qualifi ed applicants (for more information on
Software for Better Interpretation A
nother, complementary answer to increasingly capable metrology equipment is in smarter software. “You can close the skill gap by training people to understand your system, or by making your sys-
The PC-DMIS touch software in- tends to reduce training needs through a simpler interface that presents less complexity for rou- tine tasks and codifi ed GD&T.
or Cpk
tem smarter, and easier to use,” explained Brian Gudauskas, National Applications, and Support Manager for Hexagon (North Kingstown, RI). This is especially true of the large data sets that scanners and structured white light systems can pump out. In those cases, he urges the use of software that fi rst fi lters and reduces data to a meaningful subset of “what is useful.” The second step is for software to create reports and graphical interpretations of the remain- ing data. A good example is color maps of tolerances and deviations, created from com- paring measured data against CAD nominals. “However, a color map does not tell you the diameter of a cylinder,” he said. In fact, most GD&T specifi cations are feature- based, such as straightness, circularity, or perpendicularity. Software that operates on those data sets, and produces measurements of features or
gage points will make using the data in standard SPC calculations, like Cp
Another issue is in the complexity of highly capable software, such
as Hexagon’s PC-DMIS software. To satisfy a need for a simpler product, Hexagon released recently its PC-DMIS Touch. A simpler package compared to PC-DMIS, Gudauskas describes as performing a limited set of tasks. “But it does those few things very well. It also features embedded, codifi ed GD&T. One can graphically choose the GD&T symbol and the software does the rest” in the context of metrology assignment and data interpretation.
72
ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | January 2014
, go a long way towards solving the problem. After all, most SPC calculations were designed to use individual point measurements before the days of scanning metrology.
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