VERISURF
Published

You Are Not Spending Enough on Gaging

Is there an intuitive ratio shaping shops’ perceptions of how much gaging capacity is appropriate for their machining capacity? Much has changed; that ratio might need to be reconsidered.

Share

Many shops today have an outmoded feel for how much inspection and measurement capacity and hardware is appropriate for the number of machine tools they have.

I can’t prove that assertion for any given shop or identify which shops those are, but this sense ties together many observations I’ve heard from shops repeatedly, including these:

  1. When shops use machine monitoring systems to track and diagnose productive in-cut time, these reports frequently seem to reveal inefficiencies related to gaging as the reason why potentially productive machine tools are kept waiting. In one example, a given machine tool’s output was notably improved just by moving the table closer on which a needed gage was located.
  2. Gaging is often noted as the peril of lights-out machining. That is, if the shop really becomes effective at continuing production through the night, “then we are going to have all those parts to inspect in the morning.”
  3. For otherwise lean, clean and airy shops, the one place work-in-process inventory most frequently still seems visible is on the racks in or near the inspection room.

That our intuitive ratio of machining capacity to measurement capacity might bear examination stands to reason. A single machine tool today can do more. A precise multitasking machine consolidating what might have been the work of several setups into one can reduce the number of features that need to be inspected, but not to the same proportion that it reduces the number of setups. The machine’s one setup generates a larger number of critical features than a setup on a simpler machine. The proportion of measurement per machine tool therefore goes up.

Lights-out machining then takes this even farther. The observation about “parts to inspect in the morning” is not wrong; it is an accurate observation of one of the critical requirements of leveraging unattended machining capacity. Namely, the automated machining either must be paired with the capacity to quickly inspect all the parts it produces, or else the inspection process has to be automated to the same extent as machining. Either way, gaging capacity must increase.

But there is something else going on here, something more fundamental. For multiple decades now, machining businesses in the United States have been migrating toward higher levels of value in what they produce. More recently, OEMs have been more strongly leaning toward third-party quality standards (AS 9100, ISO 13485) as ways of certifying shops’ abilities to deliver this value. Meanwhile, design engineers have learned to leverage advanced manufacturing capability by specifying more complex components than in the past. All of this means that a machined part today tends to contain more value as it proceeds through the shop. The cost of scrap is higher. Measurement in machining has always safeguarded value, but today, the value that needs to be protected is higher than ever.

I will end on a couple of basic points about gaging that have always been true, but they are worth restating for any shop evaluating its gaging investment:

First, quality is a habit. And habits derive from what is easy, what is close at hand. This is the reason, for example, why a person wanting to eat better might move unhealthy food out of reach. In a machine shop, if gaging resources are ample, then this makes it easy for team members to fall into the habit of making measurements. By contrast, if gaging resources are a constraint, then this works against the habit for quality taking hold. Evading the constraint through workarounds, or by rationalizing that certain measurements can be skipped, will become the habit instead. One intangible argument for the investment in more gaging has to do with what it says to team members about the priorities of the culture.

Second, one of the areas in which the intuitive sense of productivity stands to be the most deceptive is in the observation of machining activity, cutting metal. The basic fact that the machine tools do the cutting informs our sense of proportionality in machines versus gages, because it appears to be the machines that are making the product. Of course, they are doing this. And yet the machine-shop adage, “If you’re making chips, you’re making money,” is at best incomplete. What makes money for a shop is making parts that meet measurement criteria acceptable to the customer. No machined part is done until a measurement validates the success of the work. In a very real sense, then, gaging legitimizes the work of a machine tool. As a shop’s machining capability stands taller and delivers more, gaging has to answer this advance.

VERISURF
MMS Made in the USA
VERISURF
QualiChem Metalworking Fluids
Techspex
More blasting. Less part handling.
High Accuracy Linear Encoders
Koma Precision
715 Series - 5-axis complete machining
KraussMaffei
TIMTOS
Innovative Manufacturing for the Medical Industry

Related Content

Choosing the Correct Gage Type for Groove Inspection

Grooves play a critical functional role for seal rings and retainer rings, so good gaging practices are a must.

Read More

The Many Ways of Measuring Thickness

While it may seem to be a straightforward check, there are many approaches to measuring thickness that are determined by the requirements of the part.

Read More
Basics

How to Evaluate Measurement Uncertainty

Manufacturing and measurement are closely coupled. An important consideration for the use of measurement results is the associated measurement uncertainty. This article describes common metrology terms and provides an example uncertainty analysis.

Read More
Cutting Tools

Orthopedic Event Discusses Manufacturing Strategies

At the seminar, representatives from multiple companies discussed strategies for making orthopedic devices accurately and efficiently.

Read More

Read Next

Toolholders

Rego-Fix’s Center for Machining Excellence Promotes Collaboration

The new space includes a showroom, office spaces and an auditorium that will enhance its work with its technical partners.

Read More
Sponsored

The Future of High Feed Milling in Modern Manufacturing

Achieve higher metal removal rates and enhanced predictability with ISCAR’s advanced high-feed milling tools — optimized for today’s competitive global market.

Read More

5 Rules of Thumb for Buying CNC Machine Tools

Use these tips to carefully plan your machine tool purchases and to avoid regretting your decision later.

Read More
VERISURF