Process safeguarding throughout the product life cycle

Measurement technologies are mandatory in different manufacturing technologies and can be found in all phases of the product life cycle. Often there are a lot of parameters that influence process quality. The limitations of sensor-based measuring methods with which quality-affecting quantities can be detected are also unknown. Therefore, quality loops are needed to react to imperfections at an early stage and to minimize the reject rate. A large, up to now incompletely examined field is the influence of surface contaminations on subsequent processes such as adhesive bonding, coating, soldering, welding, hardening, etc.. As an example the paper will concentrate on a hardening process succeeding a machining process.