The CMM machine is one of the more important pieces of equipment in manufacturing, as anyone who has worked in a precision machine shop can attest. Strangely, a majority of inspection work is still being performed on manual CMM machines which can create a bottleneck in the inspection process. Just imagine how slow of a process it would be if all machine work was performed on manual machines instead of CNC machines! The benefits of a DCC, or Automated CMM, are both a massive speed boost and an increase in reporting. According to an article published by CNC-West, Watt’s Machining added a Zeiss G2 Contura Automatic CMM and increased their inspections from 1 per hour to 5 every 15 minutes. The Zeiss machine also allowed the company’s managers to print out perfectly formatted inspection reports any time they wish. Of course, with any addition both sides of the coin must be considered. Hexagon Metrology offers up the cost vs benefits of adding an automated CMM to your machine shop. As you can see below, adding a DCC CMM can involve fairly strong costs, but those costs can be negated through preparation. For the best possible results, be sure to: • Include all costs. The calculator is meant as a starting point and may not include every cost for your application. • Consider costs that are not obvious. These may be upstream or downstream from the process you are evaluating. Consult with other departments if necessary. • Select parts which incur the most time. These may be parts which are produced in large volumes or ones with hard to inspect, complex geometries. • Take into account anything which can positively or negatively impact the accuracy. If you found this information useful, please be sure to explore the various links in this article and read more about the benefits of automated CMMs. Hopefully this information will positively impact business and create a more efficient way of performing inspections. Also, please remember to visit www.mtsg.com to read up on more industry news and find out about opportunities in your area. Paul Levesque - Engineering Recruiter Article by CNC West www.cnc-west.com (found here)