Toolmaker needed to support its quality accreditations - but decided that dedicated gauging
fixtures would be impractical for its diverse range of work.
Flexible shop floor gauge
FOR more than 50 years,
Portsmouth based ENL has been
dedicated to excellence in the
manufacture of high quality mould
tools and technical injection
moulding. As a renowned total
service supplier, the company is able
to move products seamlessly from
concept, through prototyping and
into high volume production. ENL’s
proven track record in the design,
development and manufacture of
countless successful products has
attracted a diverse range of blue
chip organisation. ENL’s customers
are attracted by the company’s
ability to offer a single, fully
integrated source for design,
tooling, technical moulding, insert
overmoulding, horizontal & vertical
machining, assembly and printing.
The company’s steadfast
march 2008
commitment to quality is recognised
by the ISO9001: 2000 standard, and
as approved suppliers to Airbus
Industries and BAe - the Aerospace
equivalent - AS9100. These
accreditations demand that ENL’s
policies and working practices are
subject to continual improvement,
they must also meet the special
procedures required as a supplier to
the safety critical aerospace
industry.
Mindful of the accuracy, speed
and convenience that gauging
fixtures could bring to the
company’s busy Quality
Department, Vince Barton, ENL’s
Quality Manager investigated the
many alternatives. Having decided
that the sheer volume and diversity
of the company’s plastic parts
rendered dedicated fixtures an
Enquiry Number: 62
unfeasible financial proposition, he
found the answer to his measuring
problem in the novel Checkmatic
Bench Gauge from Bowers
Metrology. The extremely flexible
Bowers Gauge is capable of being
configured to performing a
multitude of internal and external
measuring tasks to micron accuracy,
whilst its comprehensive range of
retro-fitable accessories ensures that
previously difficult gauging tasks
can be performed rapidly with a
minimum of operator input. The
Checkmatic is designed to withstand
the rigours of harsh shop-floor life,
yet provide excellent accuracy and
speed of use, the inexpensive gauge
has its own built-in multi-function
digital readout or alternatively it can
be fitted with mechanical/electronic
indicators or transducer probes.
‘Our new Checkmatic gives us
the best of both worlds’ says Barton
‘as we are able to set it up to
perform dedicated measurements
on a particular part, then quickly reconfigure
the gauge for our next
production run. Although our new
Bowers gauge has its own
comprehensive range of
accessories, its flexible nature
means that we have been able to
manufacture our own contacts and
adapters to suit some of our more
unusual applications. The unit’s
speed of operation and accuracy
enables it to keep pace with the
large volume of work passing
through our department and ensure
the continued quality of our
output.’
www.bowers.co.uk
www.enl.co.uk
quality
MWP
93
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