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As is current practice with many aluminum extruders, dimensional gaging at the extrusion press was done manually using hand gages. <strong>The</strong> reason <strong>for</strong> Almag’s project was to determine out-of-tolerance rejects at the press and thereby eliminate downstream scrap and increase press productivity. Furthermore, a plant bottleneck existed due to quality assurance dimensional inspection in the pack/ship 40 RS No. 26 or visit www.qualitydigest.com area. Based on internal cost studies, the potential profit improvement was significant, as were the direct customer quality benefits. Evaluation of an optical projector was quite extensive to ensure all quality standards were met (e.g., production part approval process, gage repeatability and reproducibility) especially because the dimensional inspection was now hap- pening in-process. <strong>The</strong> line operators needed training to understand the feedback from the measurement process and, more important, to know what decisions to make <strong>for</strong> corrective action. <strong>The</strong> project was very successful. Results included a reduction in scrap rates, which led to higher press productivity, and dimensional data capture was consistent across all shifts, which standardized customer quality. Payback on the projector is expected to be achieved within 12 months. As a result of the improved per<strong>for</strong>mance on the one extrusion line, a second projector has been added to support another extrusion line. Clearly, even within difficult environments such as aluminum extrusion, in-process gaging can have a dramatic effect on quality and profits. Customer feedback <strong>for</strong> Almag Aluminum has been positive, which further validates its drive to continuously improve its engineering and extrusion processes. Summary <strong>The</strong> case <strong>for</strong> in-process gaging is compelling because lower rejects and increased line efficiency is the natural result. However, given the constraints from environmental factors and the capability of the inspection technology, every manufacturing and inspection niche must be assessed individually. Examples used in this article relate to aluminum extrusion, where productivity increases of 10 percent coupled with scrapreduction opportunities of about 50 percent can mean a substantial improvement to the business case <strong>for</strong> in-process dimensional measurement. Of course, the more difficult the inspection challenge, the higher the investment and the greater the opportunity <strong>for</strong> significant cost/productivity savings. About the author Derek Nogiec is vice president, marketing <strong>for</strong> DII <strong>ASCONA</strong>, a research and development-based optical systems company headquartered in Meckenbeuren, Germany, serving the extrusion, automotive, aerospace and advanced electronics markets. Visit DII <strong>ASCONA</strong> online at www .diiascona.com QD Comments Send feedback to comments@qualitydigest.com.
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