Product News: In-Process Testing sigPOD Lowers Costs, Increases Testing Capacity

(Sciemetric: Ottawa, ON, Canada) -- Sciemetric Instruments Inc., whose technology has been used for more than 15 years by some of the world’s largest manufacturers to improve quality and their manufacturing processes, announces the expansion of its modular sigPOD hardware platform to support up to 24 analog channels and six encoder input channels.

sigPOD is a robust, flexible platform designed for usability and visibility in live production environments. This out-of-the-box hardware and software system for monitoring test and assembly processes is designed to integrate seamlessly into production lines, delivering commonality across the line. sigPOD is easy to configure, saves time by increasing efficiency of manufacturing processes, and displays detailed results of manufacturing processes in real time.

Sciemetric has developed an eight-channel expansion module, the Model 1608, which can be connected to any of the company’s sigPOD systems to expand it in eight-channel increments to a maximum of 24 channels.

“In today’s dynamic economy, manufacturers cannot afford to conduct expensive recalls,” says Nathan Sheaff, CEO of Sciemetric Instruments. “By adopting in-process testing, companies can find problems early and before they cost money, and fix processes so that they are running at maximum efficiency.

“That sigPOD is now expandable with the Model 1608 module means that companies that have more intensive monitoring requirements gain additional capacity, as now they can run applications that require higher channel counts, from complex applications such as end-line functional testing in automotive to heat fusing of critical but high-volume medical devices.”

Sciemetric offers a full range of sigPOD instrumentation products that are used to verify and control a variety of standard manufacturing operations such as assembly-press monitoring, leak testing, vibration analysis, and functional testing. The flexible system can be configured to qualify virtually any manufacturing process.

The sigPOD platform is driven by Sciemetric’s process signature verification (PSV) software, which enables detailed insight into process behavior by measuring and analyzing the physical characteristics of processes applied during manufacturing using a scientific approach based on electronic signature analysis. Understanding the physical behavior of machines and assembly systems is key to identifying efficiencies that boost quality and yield. Monitoring manufacturing processes in real time allows companies to analyze manufacturing defects at the source, improving quality, increasing productivity and decreasing costs. PSV dramatically improves monitoring sensitivity and defect detection capability over conventional methods.

“Incorporating risk management using process signature technology helps companies in industries like medical device manufacturing meet tough regulatory requirements,” says Sheaff.

Not only does sigPOD provide immediate pass-fail status on the production floor, it also acts as the conduit to transfer all the collected information into QualityWorX, Sciemetric’s analytics software, for advanced analysis. QualityWorX provides full visibility into manufacturing processes, capturing test data and enabling thorough analysis of the entire process.

About The Author

Sciemetric Instruments Inc.

Sciemetric Instruments Inc. Since 1981, Sciemetric’s process-monitoring and quality-management systems and software have enabled some of the world’s largest automotive, medical and industrial manufacturers to gain visibility into, and control over, their manufacturing processes. On the production floor, process signature verification (PSV) technology provides the most accurate determination of process health and part quality while collecting all data. Manufacturing managers use Sciemetric’s analytic tools to transform the data into actionable information to reduce costs, manage quality and maximize yield while providing proof of process compliance and complete line-wide traceability.