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	New Inspection Process Takes Square D to Next Wave in Digital Manufacturing

	A few months ago, if Rus Emerick wanted to inspect a manufactured part, it could take as long as three weeks and cost as much as $16,000. Today, he can do it in two days at very little cost. Emerick, staff designer for Schneider Electric's Square D brand, is using new software that combines the speed of non-contact 3D scanning with a new level of simplicity for computer-aided inspection (CAI). The new technology will save the company time and money in a process that in the past could bog down manufacturing efficiency.

	The Move to 3D Square D is perhaps the most recognizable brand of electrical distribution and industrial control products, systems and services. The company has 17,000 U.S. employees, 300 of which are responsible for designing and inspecting parts. Like most companies that manufacture a large number of products, Square D uses 3D CAD/CAM tools that significantly speed up the design process and cut down on development costs. The only part of the manufacturing process that has not been made digital is the critical inspection stage, Emerick says. "The inspection stage is where we find out whether the product is ready for production. We inspect the model, and from the inspection information we can correct any problems before the part goes into production." The company does first-article inspections on all of its parts, which involves examining every feature and dimension for flaws or deviations from the original model. Traditionally the company has used coordinate measurement machines (CMMs) for the inspections. CMMs locate point coordinates on parts while integrating dimensional and orthogonal relationships. But that process is slow and expensive, which is why Emerick decided to move to 3D inspection. "We design in 3D. Why in the world would we not inspect in 3D?," he says.

	A New Way to Inspect Inspecting with CMM machines requires that designers create a 2D drawing in addition to the 3D CAD model of a part. The drawing is used to inspect the part at specific locations to verify that it matches the design. "The dimensions from the 2D drawing are programmed into a CMM machine, the part is probed at key locations, and a spreadsheet of the probed values is produced," Emerick says. "The designer then has to look, line by line, and decide if the 'probed' dimension is within tolerance, or if corrective action is required. Imagine having to look at 1,200 lines of dimensions. It is very time consuming and tedious." Emerick's research on 3D inspection tools led him to Geomagic Qualify software from Raindrop Geomagic (Research Triangle Park, N.C.). Square D has been testing the product for the past several months, and plans to implement it this year as a regular part of its manufacturing inspection process. Geomagic Qualify processes point cloud data from a 3D scanner. It provides a graphical comparison of the manufactured part vs. the CAD model, automatically performing first-article inspection, tool validation, wear analysis, object alignment, and 2D and 3D dimensional analysis. Reports can be generated automatically in many standard formats including Microsoft Word, PDF documents, Excel spreadsheets, customizable graphics formats, or as VRML models embedded into HTML. "By producing point clouds of the entire part, I can now measure the part everywhere, and not be limited to the specific locations on a drawing," Emerick says. "By comparing the CAD database to the CAM-produced part, I can now instantly see where differences occur and make an evaluation of the impact or seriousness of the deviation. You don't need to be an expert to use the software - the user interface is intuitive and follows a simple workflow: align, compare, evaluate and report."

	From Three Weeks to Two Days Emerick likes to use a recent example to illustrate how 3D inspections can change the way the company operates. When designers recently wanted to inspect a plastic molded cover for a circuit breaker, they discovered the part had 1,295 dimensions that would have to be inspected. "Using the old methodology we would have had to pay $12.50 per dimension on a 2D drawing and measure it with a CMM machine, only to find that there were only two out of tolerance," he says. "With Geomagic Qualify, I can quickly see the two features that don't match the CAD model. I don't have to measure all 1,295 dimensions." Using the old method would have taken three weeks, as opposed to two days with Geomagic Qualify, Emerick says. "The faster the product is approved, the faster it can be built and the faster it can be shipped," he says. "Time is money."

	3D Throughout the Process The new inspection process at Square D will make 3D a part of the entire design and manufacturing cycle. It will also place Square D at the forefront of companies realizing the benefits of new 3D technology for automated inspection. "This could really change the way things operate here," says Emerick. "We expect Geomagic Qualify to save us considerable time and money in our first-article inspection process. Our designers will be able to identify immediately where the part does and doesn't match the CAD database, then provide an on-screen 3D graphical report back to tooling, which can quickly understand where the problems lie and make necessary changes."
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