MANUFACTURING inspection and reverse engineering at a Tasmanian sheet metal company has been made more accurate and efficient through recently installed imaging equipment.
SERS Sheetmetal Works and Lasercutting Services located in Burnie, is now winning lucrative defence, marine and other contracts it couldn’t previously tackle because it wasn’t able to supply the required certification of accuracy for manufactured components.
In order to better meet client demand for more precise measurements of components, the company purchased an InspecVision from Advanced Sheetmetal Technologies, which uses an ultra high resolution static camera and powerful software to create a dxf image of the machined components
SERS MD Diane Edgerton said often clients require very fine manufacturing tolerances, sometimes in the range of plus or minus 0.02mm, but hand checking using a micrometer was not giving the company the accuracy and ease of measurement needed.
“Using this technology we now know immediately where our workmanship has erred and can correct it. When we’ve achieved a pass, we print out the report and give it to our client along with the finished component. This is a huge step forward for our Quality Assurance,” Edgerton said.
“A major benefit for us is that we can take on clients such as the Defence Department that we couldn’t service before because we didn’t comply with the required inspection documentation,” she explained.
As well as using the machine for quality control purposes, the sheet metal company uses the technology for reverse engineering components or drawings supplied by clients.
The equipment creates a digital image of a component or a printed illustration that is automatically converted into a dxf file for laser cutting, routing or punch pressing.
According to Edgerton, the technology has opened doors for the company, not only making operation more efficient, but has enabled increased work to be taken on.