Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the process of producing goods from raw materials. Manufacturing is used in many industries and can vary greatly depending on the processes used. For industries that work with injection molding, fabrication, raw forging and casting, 3D scanning can be a valuable service for inspections and modifications. 3D printing is also a valuable service for making molds for plastic injection prototyping. 3D scanning and 3D printing has been known to offer great value in the manufacturing industry in the form of huge savings in cost and time, while increasing overall value and efficiency of products being manufactured.

First Article Inspection of Manufactured Parts

First article inspection (FAI) in the manufacturing industry enables suppliers to ensure and verify that parts meet quality standards and are compliant with industry regulations before they are mass produced. With a growing number of industry regulation, manufacturers and suppliers are required to adhere to ever more stricter regulations and perform and generate documentation for quality purposes. With the wide variety of quality check and inspection software licenses available in our toolbox, we can scan parts in high-resolution and provide a 3D graphical color map report comparing the manufactured part to the actual CAD model. This workflow process has been used to evaluate supplier quality, investigate quality issues, and pin point problems in a design for modifications.

Solution

Case Study

Modification and Design of Dies and Molds

Creating dies and molds is a complex and iterative process. Manufacturers have to compare the molded part to its mold to make any modifications and understand how shrinkage may have affected the part. For complex shapes and geometries, traditional methods of measurement can be unreliable in assessing where modification is needed. For such parts, 3D scanning is a viable solution to quickly inspect the dies and molds and reduce the number of iterations needed to reach the correct dimensions. 3D scanning can also be used to reverse engineer dies and molds or create accurate molds for organic shapes like food products. Our portable 3D Laser Scanners provide high-accuracy measurements and can be directly used on the production floor at the customers premises.

Solution

Inspection for Raw Forging and Casting

In raw forging and casting, inspections are needed to make sure that there is enough material left for machining critical areas. Traditional methods of inspection can take too long and can be unreliable if the shape and geometry of the part is complex. Our high-accuracy 3D scanners easily scan such parts to determine the optimum dimensions required at an accuracy of a fraction of an inch. In addition, our 3D scanners are portable, which lets us perform on-site inspections at our customers site, shop or production floor.

Solution

Part to CAD Inspection

For quality inspection of manufactured parts especially in the Aerospace and Oil & Gas industry, a Part-to-CAD inspection has to be performed. In a Part-to-CAD inspection, the manufactured part is compared to its CAD model to see if there are any deviations between them. Traditionally this type of inspection is done using CMM probes which can be unreliable if the part has complex or freeform geometries. Our 3D scanning solution allows us to scan the manufactured part and overlay it on the CAD model to perform a full inspection on all the surfaces of the part. In addition, we can provide a deviation map for documentation of the manufactured part.

Solution