Product category:
CMMs (co-ordinate measuring machines) and software
News Release from: LK | Subject: CAMIO CMM software
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 14 July 2000
Measuring software cuts Jaguar's time to
market
The ability to program inspection machines well in advance of the prototype stage is helping Jaguar to shorten the lead time between drawing board and forecourt.
The ability to program inspection machines well in advance of the prototype stage is helping Jaguar to shorten the lead time between drawing board and forecourt British co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM) manufacturer, LK, has supplied the enabling technology by upgrading the measuring software throughout the car maker's Castle Bromwich plant
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 19 May 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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The CMM software, called CAMIO, is able to import the solid models of new car components directly from the design department, where the latest SDRC I-DEAS computer-aided design systems are replacing older CAD technology.
This is part of Ford's current worldwide 'C3P' project to integrate and better manage its design, manufacturing and process engineering functions.
Months before the first prototypes are available, quality superintendent Craig Williams and his team at Castle Bromwich can download from the CAD department component models with points marked where measurements will need to be taken at the prototype and production stages.
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Using the models, inspection programs are prepared early in the life cycle of a new car, fitting in with Jaguar's concurrent engineering philosophy.
With the previous CMM software, it was not practical to program off-line as graphical models could not be imported and it would have been prohibitively time consuming to work from the drawings.
Engineers therefore had to wait for the first prototypes before being able to program the CMMs using the teach-in method.
Now, when the prototypes arrive, all programs have been written and need only minor editing before measuring cycles are run.
Cycle times can vary from 10 minutes to three hours, taking in anything from 20 to 400 inspection points.
Feedback of results to the engineering department is consequently much earlier than before, compressing the project cycle time further.
The first CMM to be upgraded, in July 1999, was an LK Metre 4 installed in the early 80s.
Originally controlled by a DEC PDP-11 and later by a VAX, the machine is now equipped with a PC running Windows programs.
Until the CAMIO and other software modules were installed, these programs ran under CMES.
However, the internationally recognised DMIS protocol is now employed, LK being one of its pioneers.
Ford uses DMIS for all its CMMs worldwide as it allows them to transmit inspection programs to factories in other countries.
Jaguar uses the same facility to send files from one CMM to a less utilised machine on the same site to maximise metrology capacity.
Major vehicle assemblies are checked on the Metre 4 including body complete, body less doors, under frame, body sides and rear quarters as well as all bolt-ons such as bonnet, boot, doors and fenders.
Individual panels and trim are measured on smaller CMMs, many of which are LKs but including various Stiefelmayer and Brown and Sharpe / DEA machines as well.
All CMMs including the LK models installed at Jaguar's Browns Lane plant have been retrofitted with the new software package in a project valued at in excess of ?750,000 including training and the purchase of new PCs and a server.
Hitherto, the Metre 4 has inspected body parts for the X300/330 saloon and X100 coupe / convertible, plus the Aston Martin DB7 under frame which Jaguar manufactures.
Interchanging the measurement of these under CMES to running DMIS programs for inspecting parts for new models presents no problem as it easy to switch between the two.
Once a car is in production, a body less doors (plus any other components if there is a special need) is taken off the line and audited on a CMM.
This represents about one per cent of cars coming off a line which is in full production.
The other major advantage of CAMIO is the ease with which comprehensive reports are produced.
The package supplied to Jaguar has bespoke capability written into it by LK's software engineers to allow a quick overview of results by calculating the per centage of points within a specified tolerance.
Problems can be seen at a glance, such as the quality index of a car body falling from 95 to 85, for example, allowing the manager to take immediate remedial action.
Another Jaguar-specific feature enables measured results to be sorted automatically and given weighted scores according to how far out of tolerance a feature is, and how often.
Under DMIS the reporting is fully computerised and automatic whereas using CMES, some manual collation of results on tick-charts was necessary.
Production of pictorial reports was also labour intensive before because there was no solid model to work from.
Illustrations had to be redrawn by laying process pictures on a tablet and digitising them to produce bit maps which then had to have labels attached for the check points.
Now all this is done automatically from the imported model, a process which is seven or eight times faster than previously, according to Craig Williams.
"Everyone wants pictorial reports and there is a big saving every time one is produced," he said.
"A further benefit with CAMIO is our ability to include a few more inspection points once a program has been written and support the extra points pictorially in the report." Included also in the LK software upgrade is Launchpad, which allows photographic images of components to be inserted for easy identification and presents a graphical menu structure detailing how to position the component and instigate the program.
Less experienced users are able to run inspection routines on all the CMMs, instigate audit reports and request statistical process control outputs such as trend data and capability reports.
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