MEPCA met with Measurement Solutions to find out more about their new and dedicated Metrology Integration Division.
Could you tell us a little bit about what services you offer?
Measurement Solutions was originally established 20 years ago to provide sales of upgrades and retrofits to co-ordinate measuring machines (CMM). The company has grown and developed over the years to become the UK’s leading independent provider of a range of Quality Control products and solutions, including;
- A range of CMM services and products, including new & used CMM sales, CMM retrofit solutions from a simple software upgrade to a complete system refurbishment, and CMM maintenance & calibration services including UKAS accredited CMM certifications
- A wide range of hand-held 3D scanning products, focusing on high-end scanning for industrial applications such as inspection and reverse engineering
- Portable metrology solutions, such as portable CMM and hand-held scanning
- Software upgrades to portable 3D measuring devices, including portable arms, laser trackers, laser scanners, photogrammetry systems, etc.
- Automated Quality Control (AQC) involving measurement & inspection utilising the latest industrial robots an collaborative robots
We understand you have recently re-structured, can you tell us how this new structure will benefit your customers?
In the last 5 years we have seen incredible leaps forward in terms of the capabilities of scanning technologies and associated software. Of particular significance is the development of scanning and software solutions for AQC by some of our long-term and key partners, who clearly see a growing trend on a worldwide scale in this area. There is now a growing demand, albeit in its infancy right now, for “in-process” inspection and measurement to provide the information required for the trend towards information and data exchange, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0 or the 4th Industrial Revolution.
The recent re-structuring of Measurement Solutions is the first step in our aim to enable UK manufacturing companies to embrace Industry 4.0 and to implement measurement solutions for that purpose – it is our company name, after all!
Could you tell us more about the formation of the new and dedicated Metrology Integration Division of Measurement Solutions?
Our Portable Metrology Division will now focus on portable systems, mainly hand-held 3D scanners, with a dedicated team of engineers that have many years of scanning experience and know-how.
The Metrology Integration Division has been setup to deal with the evolving AQC market. Right now in the market, the only solutions available are predominantly from measuring device manufacturers that have no knowledge of robotics programming, or from robot suppliers that have no knowledge of measurement and metrology. The result has been semi-serious solutions that provide the end-user with little or no choice of robot and/or measuring device, and invariably a solution that depends exclusively on third party contractors to provide programming services for the scanner, the robot and in most cases both.
Measurement Solutions realised that trying to sell a particular scanner with a robot, or a particular robot with a scanner, is not the solution. The key to a successful implementation is how to make the best robot and the best measuring device for the specific application requirements operate seamlessly, and in a way that the end-user can easily manage in the future.
A crucial element of this has been the Metrolog X4 i-Robot software, available exclusively from Measurement Solutions in the UK. Metrolog X4 is still the leading independent software for measuring devices from CMM’s to portable systems, with over 20,000 users worldwide. Metrolog X4 i-Robot provides users with a single software platform for programming (both connected “on-line” or in a simulated “off-line” environment) both the industrial robot and the measuring device, without the need for specialists in metrology and robotics. Direct connection interfaces to many of the leading brands of robot and measuring devices provide users with complete freedom of choice as to which robot and which measuring technology is best for their needs.
The new Metrology Integration Division provides a team of experienced engineers dedicated to providing the initial setup and integration of any robot with any measuring device, and to provide comprehensive training and advice on best practice.
