Taking retro to the future

Measurement devices used for quality assurance must meet all measurement and safety standards at all times. Many industries, such as electrical engineering, medical technology, space travel and automotive, rely on such machines day in and day out. They demand that these machines work faultlessly, even after decades of usage. Manufacturing new machines requires the consumption of a large amount of resources. So too do machines that no longer have maximum energy efficiency after a long period in service. Altogether, it almost makes for a catch-22 challenge.

Nonetheless, ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions has accepted precisely this challenge. Using PerformanceFit, ZEISS brings coordinate measuring machines that are up to 20 years old into line with the latest technology. As a result, their material consumption is reduced, their service life extended, their operating costs lowered, their efficiency increased and their energy consumption halved. ZEISS achieves these results by examining the devices comprehensively. Potential retrofits are considered from as early as the product development and manufacturing stages so that later upgrades are technologically possible. In usage, a retrofitted device is characterized by its reduced resource consumption, its increased efficiency and its improved carbon footprint. Retrofitting a device at what appears to be the end of its service life also conserves raw materials and makes further capital expenditure unnecessary. This means that the coordinate-measuring machines that are modernized by ZEISS offer financial as well as environmental benefits.

The machines are fully refurbished and equipped with new modules on site with no more than one week of downtime. Large and heavy device components that require large amounts of energy to manufacture are kept in the device and not swapped out. ZEISS AirSaver and ZEISS PowerSaver are innovative PerformanceFit features that also help customers to achieve their carbon emission reduction targets. These features can significantly reduce the energy required during idle times. What’s more, the productivity of the modernized machines is optimized thanks to new, digital controls, software features and sensor interfaces. This lets them take on new measuring tasks flexibly and without consuming resources excessively, all while strongly reducing the energy required. Modernization leaves the machines able to be used efficiently and effectively for at least ten more years so that they can contribute to sustainability during this time.