CMM manufacturer LK Metrology has introduced a subcontract inspection service in support of UK and Irish ventilator – and other medical component and equipment manufacturers – which may not have sufficient quality control resources in-house.

When the government launched its Ventilator Challenge UK, the consortium behind it asked multinational firms such as Rolls-Royce, BAe and GKN to identify and involve OEMs and subcontract machinists in the aerospace, automotive and other industries that could help boost the production of medical parts. Designed to meet the target of 30,000 extra ventilators needed by the NHS to cope with the surge in COVID-19 patients, the consortium sought manufacturers with spare machining capacity, as well as ISO accreditation and expertise in metrology, to ensure the high level of quality required when making parts for medical equipment.
Some firms lacked the metrology element of the requirement. This factor prompted LK Metrology to expand the existing contract inspection service run from its headquarters in Castle Donington and make it available exclusively for those registered to supply ventilator and other medical parts.
Dave Robinson, marketing manager at LK Metrology, says: “We understand that manufacturers in the medical sector are needed to help provide valuable components, products and systems to combat the pandemic. The majority typically require the use of CMMs to measure, reverse engineer and assure the quality of many complex and precision parts, including prismatic, rotational and freeform types. For that reason, we are offering them a series of metrology services that we believe can be of assistance during these anxious times.”
For further information www.lkmetrology.com

Vision Engineering, a 61-year-old British designer and manufacturer of visual measurement and inspection technologies, has attained ISO 17025:2017 from UKAS and is now a UKAS-accredited calibration laboratory (No. 7706).

The award of ISO 17025:2017 by UKAS is the only mechanism that determines the technical competence and integrity of organisations offering testing and calibration services. ISO 17025:2017 not only contains requirements for the quality management system of the organisation, but includes detailed and specific technical criteria for the operation of the service, including ensuring the competence of company personnel.
Vision Engineering’s temperature-controlled calibration laboratory is now ISO17025:2017 certified for the calibration of measurement stages, instrumentation and artefacts performed at its production complex in Surrey. The full-service manufacturing facility includes a design office, machine shops, paint shop, cleanroom and assembly area. It is replicated in the US, with a wholly-owned, full-service manufacturing facility in Connecticut.
Measurement calibration and technical support is provided through a network of Vision Engineering subsidiaries in Germany, France, Italy, Japan, China, India and Malaysia.
The company supplies its non-contact and contact optical and digital measuring systems to a range of global manufacturers, including those in the medical device, aerospace, automotive and defence sectors, and their multi-tier supply chains.
Mark Curtis, managing director, says: “This is an independent and globally recognised confirmation by UKAS of the consistently high standard of our testing capability and calibration laboratory.
ISO standards confirmation is a key statement of our ability to address the requirements of our manufacturing and analytical customers across the world, and provide certainty of the quality of both our calibrations and calibrated metrology systems.”
For further information www.visioneng.com