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CATEGORY: BEST METAL CUTTING MACHINE TOOL (PRISMATIC)
A ‘blueprint for a gold standard’ conjures up
colourful images to say the least - maybe even the
hint of a mixed metaphor. But Hexagon Metrology -
the world’s leading supplier of precision metrology
products - makes no apologies for the terminology
surrounding its new, duotone initiative.
A golden future
This way for
competitive
advantage…Hexagon's
soon-to-be-launched Gold
Standard UHA facility.
Below: a view of the
future…the Leitz PMM-C
ultra high accuracy CMM
seen through the bridge of
the DEA Micra
FOR years the metrology multinational Hexagon
has worked with industry to ramp up quality and drive
down cost, providing globally-challenged British
manufacturers with dimensional tools that facilitate
smarter production, product innovation and
manufacturing excellence. From the introduction of the
first CMMs in the 1960s to today’s high speed laser tracker
and white light scanning systems, its constituent
companies have been at the forefront of metrology R&D,
pushing back the boundaries and delivering advances in
probing, scanning and measurement technologies.
The net result is that manufacturers now benefit from
world class measuring certainties of between 0.1microns
and 0.1mm dependent on the equipment used and actual
needs. The achievable accuracy - and competitive advantage
it delivers - is light years ahead of that which was available
only a decade ago and, with the advent of Hexagon’s ‘gold
standard blueprint’ is set to move on further. Picking up on
the mixed metaphor analogy, David Brown, Hexagon’s UK
director and general manager, remarks: ‘Not only does it
sound good on paper, it’s essential if manufacturing in the
West is to retain a significant role on the world stage.’
What the blueprint amounts to is a soon-to-be-launched
Ultra High Accuracy (UHA) facility at Hexagon’s UK HQ
84 MWP april 2008
in Telford. ‘We’re calling it the Hexagon Gold Standard
because - like the original Gold Standard used to measure
the value of a currency - we aim to make ours the
definitive dimensional reference for the fast-emerging era
of UHA manufacturing and metrology,’ Brown adds.
The new resource, which opens for business in April is
housed in a temperature-controlled measurement
laboratory annexed to its UKAS and contract inspection
facilities. Its primary purpose will be to provide a submicron
measurement and validation service for customers
in premier league engineering who need a certificated set
of measurement data for correlation or pass off. The facility
comprises a Leitz PMM-C 1200x1000x580 fixed bridge,
moving table type CMM and one of the new DEA Micra
400x500x300 mini CMMs which is scheduled for UK
launch at MACH 2008. Both machines are equipped with
Leitz high accuracy probing systems. The facility will also
benefit from Hexagon Metrology’s tie-up with Cranfield
University’s Precision Engineering Centre which recently
acquired a Leitz PMM-F UHA CMM.
Brown outlines the business case behind the UHA
laboratory: ‘As UK manufacturing can no longer compete
on the world stage in terms of labour costs and the like, it’s
had to focus on less price and cost-sensitive higher valueadded
manufacturing, as well as emerging manufacturing
technologies which pose all manner of challenges. When
analysing this landscape as part of our planning it was
apparent that the ability of European engineers to
intelligently work through these engineering challenges
and come up with cutting edge solutions was creating a
whole new set of metrology demands for component and
part geometry. In short, the more complex they became,
the tighter the dimensional tolerances had to be to ensure
maximum performance, reliability and efficiency.
‘It was clear we had to address our CMM technology to
ensure we were positioned to accommodate these demands,
as well as those that would follow in their wake as the new
manufacturing technologies took hold. As a worldwide
group committed to extensive R&D this was already a work
in progress. Our clearly defined product strategy positions
Hexagon technology according to accuracy or uncertainty
performance and highlights precisely what direction we
need to take in terms of R&D. As a result we’re at the
forefront of developing systems that are crossing over the
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