Everyday objects such as toothbrushes or shaving devices have to meet increasingly higher design and quality requirements. Shorter product life cycles place high demands on development and production processes. In between the single product development steps, the aesthetically shaped prototypes must be repeatedly checked for compliance with the design specifications—practically impossible with traditional measuring technology. Proctor & Gamble (to which Braun belongs) relies on metrotomography from Carl Zeiss to develop high-quality products in a short time for volume production.
Small electronic devices such as shavers, toothbrushes and hair dryers must meet the high standards of quality at Proctor & Gamble (P&G). In addition to their attractive designs, modern products are also frequently assembled from single parts made of various materials.
The die-casting tools needed for this are developed and manufactured in Kronberg, Germany. The main challenge in tool development is getting the single components with their elaborate shapes to fit perfectly. Every customer can see the quality of the surfaces and the flawless functionality of the products when they are bought. Because the majority of components are produced in quantities of millions, once the parts are in production, it is very expensive to correct design or process flaws. Therefore, it is vital to use measuring technology during development in order to transfer the products to volume production while keeping them in compliance with quality standards.
The Kromber Technical Centre is the P&G quality innovation center in Kronberg, Germany. The center offers measuring services for all of the company’s global production sites. The five-person team in the Linear Measuring Technology/Materials Technology Department in Kronberg supports the development of products for Braun, Gillette, and Oral-B. Their services are also available to other locations and brands of P&G (e.g., baby products or laundry detergent bottles are also measured). The Kromber Technical Centre, also referred to as German Innovation Center – Kronberg, ensures that this process runs as smoothly as possible.
METROTOM 1500 computer tomograph from Carl Zeiss |
Optimizing quality
In addition to other departments, Linear Measuring Technology is also involved in the product generation process. In 2007, the German Innovation Center – Kronberg looked for a solution to further increase product quality and to optimize the product generation process in cooperation with other departments. Parts with complex shapes increasingly complicated their evaluation using existing contact-measuring technology. An evaluation was only possible using time-consuming, technically involved processes. This was at a time when the center needed as much information as possible as fast as possible about the dimensional stability and quality of the parts. Procedures with contact and optical measuring technology cannot capture complex interior geometries and elaborate surface forms or analyze porosities in parts without destroying them. This destructive technology is time-consuming and the part to be measured is then no longer available for additional inspections.
The solution to this challenge was a new development by Carl Zeiss: Metrotomography—a fusion of computer tomography (CT) and metrology.
The first few times this new technology was used provided P&G with the answers they were looking for. The German Innovation Center – Kronberg has housed a METROTOM 1500 computer tomograph from Carl Zeiss since February 2008 and is one of the first METROTOM customers.
“Our good experience with ZEISS coordinate measuring machines and the outstanding METROTOM concept made our decision much easier,” reports CT project manager Jochen Maass. “And we were not disappointed; the implementation of this new technology was a success.”
A look inside
|
“In the past, this was very difficult,” explains Maass. “The parts had to be covered with resin and then cut apart slice by slice.”
However, it was often not possible to determine the cause of a material defect. The defect was frequently located on the trimmed edge of the material. Thanks to the analysis methods of METROTOM, these time-consuming and complex procedures are no longer necessary. A product is tomographed very quickly and the result can be graphically evaluated in a volume model. It can now be nondestructively measured, inspected for material defects. METROTOM can also be used for assembly checks. If there is a defect on a device, the cause can be quickly localized with metrotomography. Based on the results, it is possible to clearly identify an assembly, material, production, or design flaw. The image data is very informative and is available to everyone involved in the development process. Once scanned, the data is available for additional inspections and analyses for years.
Unknown possibilities
This previously unknown system has further enhanced the evaluation possibilities of the metrology department in the company. Based on the experience of the German Innovation Center – Kronberg, communication between the various departments has increased as a result of the possibilities provided by METROTOM in measuring technology and materials analysis. Employees from the design, development, and production departments now frequently visit the measuring technicians at the innovation center and enthusiastically utilize everything that computer tomography has to offer.
From a layman’s eye, the perspectives provided by metrotomography sometimes seem like magic.
Add new comment