Flexible inspection for flexible manufacturing

The primary method of assuring the quality of production parts is through proper application of automatic inspection systems. Until recently, most automatic dimensional measurement was done with dedicated gages designed to check specific parts either automatically or manually. But in the last few years there has been a trend toward the use of flexible gages on the shop floor. This involves automatic coordinate measuring machines, operated by a host computer and usually incorporating environmental controls and automatic part handling. These flexible automatic inspection systems (FIS) have the advantage of being able to measure a variety of parts using the same equipment, requiring only software changes. The paper discusses how inspection systems for verifying and controlling dimensional integrity in real time are playing an increasingly important role paralleling the growth of flexible manufacturing.