Digital metrology solutions at IMTS 2022 improve workflow with 'quality intelligence'

Exhibitors in the Quality Assurance Pavilion at IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show will showcase digital metrology solutions that enable users to optimize workflow, improve manufacturability, and increase quality.

Technologies making their pavilion debut include those for automatic creation of measurement programs from 3D CAD models; self-learning (AI) CMM measurement programs that can be taught to ignore characteristics that do not impact quality; measurement of fragile parts, using non-contact optical techniques; more options for non-destructive inspection; remote monitoring of machine status via a smart phone app; and CT and CMM systems that can create a digital twin and output a file that drives 3D printers as well as traditional machines.

“Quality assurance is often thought of as the end of the manufacturing process, but digital metrology opens doors to new beginnings. Visitors to IMTS 2022 can find solutions that will enable them to collect, connect, and analyze data across their entire value creation chain and re-think their manufacturing workflow,” says Peter R. Eelman, chief experience officer at AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, which owns and produces IMTS, which runs Sept. 12-17 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

David Wick, manager of product management at ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions (booth 135502), says that manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, medical, electronic, and other industries are coming to metrology providers and asking for equipment that can make them more productive even as they face more stringent quality and compliance demands.

“These manufacturers need an integrated measuring experience. By that, I mean systems that link quality data with manufacturing data to improve overall equipment effectiveness,” says Wick. “Metrology providers have made this much easier to accomplish by using MTConnect communication protocols and common software platforms. We can show visitors how they can connect microscopes, scanners, CMMs, CTs, and other instruments across networks, then use reporting software to analyze results and share them with other machines, plants, or locations. You get all kinds of data to improve your processes.”

While leveraging “big data” is an enterprise-level task, the connected systems showcased at IMTS 2022 will also improve the productivity of technicians. Instead of taking an image, exporting a PDF file, shipping it to another instrument, and then looking at it, technicians can use connected systems and software to eliminate time-consuming manual file uploads and easily perform trend analysis.

“Simpler, faster, and easier automation integration and data sharing have emerged as dominant trends for IMTS 2022,” says Eelman. “Look for exhibitors in the Quality Assurance Pavilion to debut ‘robot-ready’ measurement equipment and other solutions that help push QA out of the metrology lab and into upstream manufacturing activities.”