Retro, but fit

How can existing machines be kept up to current standards against the background of increasing quality assurance requirements? The solution is a retrofit. Thöni Manufacturing GmbH shows you how. Almost two decades old, its coordinate measuring machine recently made the grade on an improvement course thanks to a modernisation package from Hexagon Metrology.

The company specialises in processing highprecision, medium-sized cubic parts in small or medium production batches. Parts weighing up to five tonnes dominate the production line. From these unfinished cast parts, the company creates housings for wind turbines, tractor frames, axles for forestry vehicles, working tables for processing machines and other large-format components for the machine-making, wind energy and automotive industries.

Fully integrated measuring machines
At the heart of the production facility is the pallet transport system, which moves the parts from one processing centre to the next, stringing together a series of horizontal and vertical processing centres, jig-boring machines, grinding machines and manual work stations. Metrology is also fully integrated into the process.

A Leitz PMM with a measuring range of 4000 x 2000 x 1600 mm in a further climatised room is connected to the pallet transport system. This separate capsule ensures a more stable temperature and keeps the measuring machine clean. The parts are transported directly to the measuring machine and measured during series production. Some orders require 100% inspection, others rely on random sampling. Flawless documentation is mandatory for all orders.

Spare parts assured
And the company is growing. In less than one year the workforce has doubled. And the order books are correspondingly full. The 19-year-old measuring machine has had to follow suit. „We had no problems with the accuracy of this machine,“ says Michael Warta, Managing Director of Thöni Manufacturing. The measurement accuracy of the Leitz PMM is between 3 to 5 microns. All features with tolerances of less than 20 microns are measured with the Leitz PMM. „However, one very obvious problem was the supply of spare parts, which was no longer 100% assured.“ A retrofit from Hexagon Metrology provided the remedy...