The new CMM at work in the room built specifically for the new machine
We’ve been talking about growth a lot around the Atec headquarters. From our sales and revenue to the number of employees we keep on staff, 2014 was a record setting year for Atec here at our Southwest Houston headquarters and our subsidiary Celtech in Carlsbad, NM. With more projects and employees comes the need for more desks and workstations. In addition to expanding our plant, we’ve added new machinery to our arsenal.
The Brown & Sharpe Global Advantage Coordinate Measuring Machine, made by Hexagon Metrology, found a new home here at Atec three months ago and Quality Manager Bryan Jacobs took a few minutes to explain what makes this new machine so special.
Atec’s new Brown & Sharpe Global Advantage CMM
“About 80 to 90% of our RL-10 components, 75% of Atec parts, and the majority of the parts we make for Boeing go across the new CMM. By taking manual measurements and making them computer-controlled, the new CMM makes the inspection process about 50% faster,” said Bryan Jacobs. The Brown & Sharpe Global Advantage CMM was made at the end of 2014 and runs on PC-DMIS 2014, the newest version of software available, with CAD and other capabilities. This machine is a new, state-of-the-art addition to Atec’s Quality department, giving our inspectors the ability to measure diameters as small as 10,000th of an inch and volumes up to 14 cubic meters.
The new CMM has touch probe and analog scanning capability. With micron-level repeatability, the accuracy and precision of Atec’s Machine Shop can be measured quickly. The Global Advantage CMM is run by the Quality Department, which has three trained operators who attended special training for the new software package and machine.
Atec’s new Optical Measurement machine, TESA-SCAN 50
Another addition to the Atec Quality Department inspection capability is the TESA-SCAN 50 Optical Measurement Inspection machine. The TESA-SCAN is a laser measuring device for round OD features up to 2 inches in diameter with a typical cycle time of less than 1 minute. This machine gives Atec the ability to measure round parts quickly and accurately and the machine is simple enough that inspectors can be trained in a matter of minutes here in our plant.
These new machines are just two examples of the improvements Atec has made to keep up with the explosive growth of the past year. With our continued commitment to excellence in our industry and constant upgrading and improving, 2015 should be even more exciting than 2014!
