TPT January 2016

Inspection, testing & quality control

Photo: Scan Systems Corp, USA

What would constitute a very strong challenge to this trio of closely allied techniques? A likely candidate might be the making of on-line corrections to a machine imposing multiple and complex bends in a tube intended for long, hard use in a hostile environment. Information supplied to the system would need to be accurate not only about the bend points but as to the entire complex tube contour. The workpiece would at

all times require direct comparison with a master tube or a CAD model, with supersensitive alerts to any area out of tolerance. Correlation, conformation, correction: all would be instantaneous and to standards well beyond the norm and very little short of absolute ideal. In fact, to the professionals whose products and services are reviewed here, this is not a counsel of perfection. It is daily practice in an industry in which inspection, testing and measuring are crucial but standard fundamentals of production.