Process-integrated measurement technology

Metrology News spoke recently with Dr. Heiko Wenzel-Schinzer, CDO (Chief Data Officer) of the WENZEL Group, about his views on the future role of dimensional measurement in the new era of intelligent manufacturing and how process-integrated measurement technology and its challenges are viewed both from the perspective of suppliers and users.

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Q: What trends do you currently see in quality assurance?

A: I see a significant change in many industries, resulting from the major technology trends of Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things and the shift to e-mobility, but also from the now very rapidly growing problems with the shortage of skilled workers in many companies. The technical innovations result in a significant change in the parts to be measured, the measurement tasks, but also the location of the measurement. The lack of human resources places further demands on the usability of measurement solutions.

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Q: Quality assurance is increasingly becoming a direct production function. How does this affect traditional dimensional testing equipment?

A: In production, we are dealing with different environmental conditions in terms of temperature, air purity, vibration, etc. Measurement technology must adapt here; it must be more robust against external influences and analyse and compensate for them better. Of course, you can work traditionally in production using special housings and measurement rooms, but the space in production is even more precious than anywhere else in the company, so this is not an option in the long run. But expectations for the speed and quality of measurement results are getting higher and higher, making this a really exciting challenge for all of us.

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Q: How does the location of measurement equipment change the focus of an equipment supplier?

A: From the customer's point of view, the requirements for the measurement technology supplier are quite simple: just like in a measurement room, small in terms of space, robust to use and fast in measurement and evaluation. For us, this means: innovative mechanical engineering with resilient materials, equipping our machines with sensors and cyber-physical systems for direct feedback of the measurement to the current environment, fast measurement times through scanning, 5-axis measuring heads and optical sensors, and an extreme focus on easy operation of hardware and software.

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Q: What are the key changes you're making as a supplier?

‍A: I see the following five major changes:

- The location of the measurement changes the focus

When we use the measurement technology in the measurement room, it is primarily about checking the deviation of the actual values from the target values. Ultimately, this is a question of absolute accuracy: Are we within tolerance or not? However, if the measurement technology is installed directly in production, then we primarily want to ensure the process reliability of our production. Ultimately, it is therefore a question of the repeatability of our production, or do we have to readjust the processing machines because our results change undesirably over time.

- The duration of the measurement is shorter

If we move the measurement location to production, then we have to adapt to the production cycle and therefore have less time for the individual measurement, especially since larger samples or even a 100% check must often be carried out. Measure faster — to do this, we need faster measurement systems such as optical sensors or the fast, tactile 5-axis measuring head such as the Renishaw Revo.

- The amount of measured data increases significantly

Traditionally, even before starting a measurement, we looked very carefully at which characteristics and elements really needed to be measured to ensure production quality. We touched on and evaluated these points; the result was a manageable number of measurement points and a clearly focused evaluation with a measurement report.

Through high-speed scanning and optical measurements, we can capture large amounts of data very quickly. This helps us keep pace with production cycle time, but we also need to match this data with what is needed to control the process. Otherwise, the data is wasted. Here, cooperation with customers can lead to very innovative solutions for data processing.

- Data quality is increasing enormously

The amount of data just described naturally also opens up new options for evaluation. First of all, the way data is collected has advantages for the quality of the data. We not only address individual points, but also record areas, recognize features and edges and thus have a much wider view of the measurement object than before. In the event of anomalies, we can go into the vicinity of the actually relevant measurement points and check other things; the point cloud offers enormous added value here.

- Significant growth in data analysis techniques

One of the technical innovations that also significantly influences measurement technology is data mining, machine learning, numerous methods of so-called artificial intelligence. While it used to be up to the user to recognize relevant relationships and patterns, these methods can draw our attention to new issues, visualize them and thus make them the subject of our analyses. I believe that these techniques can help us a lot: not more, but also no less.‍

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Q: In the past, device manufacturers have understandably focused more on functionality and less on usability. How do you think this will change in the future?

‍A: The new usability requirement for software is to make extensive and complex functions easy to use. At the beginning, we already talked about the shortage of skilled workers. When measurement technology moves to production, we find users there whose job is actually something other than measuring. These people are now given the additional task: “Place the part on the measuring machine and see what comes out.” And that is exactly what the software must support. Quick operation for non-measurement experts who “just” want to see an Ok/not Ok result at the end. But “experts” also expect more and are used to easy-to-use apps on their smartphones from the private sector.

Q: How do you see automation in plant programming, which simplifies the integration of systems and their continuous adjustment to changes in production parts?

‍A: I see the trend and I also understand why it makes sense. In many industries, we work on rapidly changing parts with fewer employees. The days when we were able to produce the same part for many years are over in many industries. Automated production cells must adapt quickly, without much reprogramming and set-up time. For me, however, this is a logical consequence of our Industry 4.0 transformation. More individuality and rapid change, and that even with fewer staff, because they simply don't exist. This is a challenge for all of us, but successful implementation ensures our industrial future and therefore our companies.

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Q: How and by whom will the generated data be used in factories of the future?

‍A: I believe that we will see a new job profile with the Metrology Data Scientist.

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Q: What do you think is the future roadmap for metrology?

‍A: Accuracy and speed are currently the main measurement requirements of many customers. The reusability of old programs is also a very often required secondary condition. In my opinion, speed today starts with design, quickly generating a test plan from the design model with the help of PMI and then a suitable measurement program; state of the art with all available sensors and together with the expertise of trained users at a few central locations. These programs are then transferred to measurement devices, which can be operated by “non-measurement technology experts” with very simple applications or even fully automatically integrated, and the data is then managed by the Metrology Data Scientist to ensure efficient process control.

The company-wide centralization of metrological know-how ensures better comparability of results, regardless of the machine or sensor technology used, and thus creates more independence from a specific provider and space for innovative solutions.

“Even in measurement technology, it is not the big that eats the small, but the innovative that eats the slow.”

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