Quality technology for the factory floor

It is noted that manufacturing demands for higher quality and increased productivity are changing the role of dimensional inspection. Verification techniques that catch defects only after parts have been made are no longer acceptable. This shift in emphasis from detection to prevention is taking inspection out of the quality-assurance lab and placing it on the manufacturing floor to provide timely feedback for process control and correction. Automatic inspection systems, based on the coordinate measuring machine, are being designed for this new role. The various elements of these flexible inspection systems (FISs) that are emerging as shop-floor companions to flexible manufacturing systems are examined. The ways in which FIS systems serve in-process dimensional inspection needs, including data-processing requirements for providing real-time feedback to manufacturing processes, are described. Development areas holding potential for increasing the reliability, throughput, application range, and versatility of FIS systems in automated manufacturing are discussed