Calibration laboratory attains ISO17025

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

Wenzel partners with Metrologic Group

Wenzel Group has entered into a close technological and commercial partnership with Metrologic Group. Metrologic Group software solutions are available in a version adapted to Wenzel CMM and portable measuring arms, with a focus on universality, performance and point cloud inspection.

The goal of the partnership is to provide Wenzel customers with software solutions suited to its measuring equipment, based on joint technical expertise with Metrologic Group. Wenzel CMMs and portable measuring arms can now take full advantage of Metrolog X4 and Silma X4, as well as the dedicated portable arm solution, Metrolog Evo.
According to Wenzel, the move means that its customers can enjoy advanced 3D measurement capabilities, a best-in-class point cloud module, robust offline programming and simulation tools, and faster measuring cycles to make the most of their Wenzel measuring system and streamline their 3D inspection process.
Wenzel customers willing to upgrade their software to Metrolog X4, Silma X4 or Metrolog Evo, will be able to do so directly using a Wenzel controller, WPC or with the Metrologic Group controller, ME5011. Be it on Wenzel CMMs or measuring arms, both conventional tactile probes and optical laser line sensors are already supported in the X4 software platform.
The complete solution featuring Wenzel hardware and Metrologic Group software is available directly together with the measuring equipment from Wenzel and its network.
Says Dr Heike Wenzel, CEO: “Together with our high-quality machines, customers will gain significant benefits when using the entire solution in the measurement room and/or the production environment.”
For further information www.wenzel-group.com

Subscription model offered with Faro CAM2

The latest iteration of CAM2 2020 software has been unveiled by Faro.

The release includes a variety of performance and user-interface improvements, newly developed features and a new subscription licensing option. Users can now achieve greater control over their full manufacturing process at a lower up-front cost, says the company.
Faro’s subscription model empowers users to benefit from CAM2 with a lower initial investment, while scalability is offered through a flexible licensing model, ensuring users always have access to the latest version of CAM2.
Michael Carris, vice president of product marketing, says: “Faro CAM2 is a powerful, intuitive and application-focused 3D measurement platform designed to help users efficiently fulfil their quality assurance and inspection tasks. We’re pleased to offer a software experience developed directly from customer feedback, based on the metrology needs encountered every day. What’s more, this release strengthens the relationship between quality assurance and production operations with new capabilities that ensure even greater process control.”
New features include an enhanced measurement experience and an updated statistical process control tool which assists users in identifying production data trends that may indicate when a process is moving out of a specified parameter. Being able to predict this kind of error reduces wasted time, scrap and rework, and helps keep production capacity at full strength.
For further information www.faro.com

Anca joins fight against COVID-19

Tool and cutter grinding machine manufacturer Anca has joined a consortium that aims to rapidly manufacture invasive ventilators within Australia.

The company’s experience in advanced manufacturing means it can guarantee micron precision, a capability which means Anca could pivot and utilise its machine shop to produce parts for the ventilators. Anca is utilising a cross-functional team comprising manufacturing, supply chain, project management, stores logistics and safety to support this work. Around the world it is predicted that the total demand for ventilators could run into the tens of thousands.
For further information www.anca.com

Renishaw expands encoder family

Renishaw has launched the latest addition to its RKL linear encoder scale family.

The new RKLA substrate mastered encoder scale is designed to adopt the thermal behaviour of the underlying substrate, and is compatible with Renishaw’s Resolute absolute encoder series.
In terms of design, the RKLA substrate mastered encoder scale is a narrow, low cross-sectional area, stainless steel absolute tape scale with 6 mm width and a thickness of just 0.1 mm (0.15 mm with adhesive). The scale is graduated with a 30 µm pitch absolute code, which offers ±5 µm/m accuracy.
Available in lengths up to 21 m, the new scale can be used in both linear and partial arc applications. The robust stainless steel tape scale design offers immunity to solvents, along with the ability to be coiled for easy storage and cut-to-length convenience. RKLA scales can be installed on to the axis substrate by a self-adhesive backing tape, while the scale ends are rigidly fixed by means of adhesive-fastened end clamps, eliminating the need to drill holes. A simple applicator tool is available for quick and easy scale installation.
The RKL family of solutions extends the range of capabilities offered by Renishaw’s encoder scales, allowing the customer to choose an appropriate thermal behaviour for their application. A purpose-designed narrow form factor enables installation in applications where space is limited.
In partial arc applications, RKL encoder scales can be conveniently cut to the required length and mounted on a simple cylindrical substrate with no requirement for complex mounting features or tight-tolerance alignment surfaces.
For further information www.renishaw.com/rkl