Pole Position in Terms of Precision

While the ramp up for mass production allows for multiple adjustment loops so that the machinery accommodates manufacturer requirements, prototypes must be within tolerance right from the get go. "This makes the manufacturing process exciting, like a good mystery," says Andreas Löffler. This industrial engineer at Stangl & Co. GmbH is responsible for quality and process management. If just one characteristic is not within tolerance, then companies are forced to invest a lot of time and effort in finding the cause, e.g. calculating the interactions of individual components or eliminating unwanted effects by performing adjustments in other areas. "This means a lot of work that eats up valuable development time which you simply do not have if you want to compete globally," says Löffler. This explains why the time and resources devoted to measurements during prototype construction has increased tenfold over the past five years. And that is not all. "The requirements for documenting the measuring results have kept pace with the effort needed for the measurements themselves."

To demonstrate to their customers that workpieces had been manufactured to specification, Stangl & Co. GmbH used to commission an external service provider when there were extremely demanding precision requirements. This service provider would then inspect the manufactured prototypes on a ZEISS PRISMO ultra. "The process always went smoothly, but it limited our flexibility," says Löffler. To get results more quickly and outdo the competition when it comes to quality assurance, the mid-sized Stangl & Co. GmbH became the first manufacturing company in Europe to invest in a ZEISS XENOS. "This ensured that we were off to a flying start when it came to precision," explains Stefan Kulzer, one of the company's two Managing Directors.