Creaform. Located in Oskarshamn, Sweden, Plåtson specializes in creating and streamlining solutions for its customers' production flows and processes. Recently, the company acquired an automated 3D measurement system in order to secure the accurate measurements required for precision-demanding parts in a very time-efficient way.
High-Precision Stands
Plåtson’s major customer has several production plants in Europe. The cabs, have to be transported from Oskarshamn to the other production plants. To do this in a safe way and in an automatic loop, the client uses transport skids in which the cabs are locked for transport. High precision is required for both the cabs and the stands in order to hold and maintain the parts securely. The quality of the vehicles depends on it. Nevertheless, the stands are handled manually by forklifts at the factory and can be damaged easily.
Requirements
Plåtson decided to invest in an automated quality control solution in order to raise the quality of their work and obtain higher precision on their measurements.
Creaform’s Automated Quality Control Solution
Together with Creaform’s distributor MLT Maskin & Laserteknik AB, Plåtson took the step to test Creaform’s new technology, the robot-mounted 3D scanner MetraSCAN 3D-R. By testing the new control line, Plåtson realized how they could increase the quality of their measurements. Not only could they know that they had a deviation, but also they could know how big the error was in order to conduct the proper repair and correction.
Benefits Gained with Automated 3D Scanning
Because deviation reports are stored in a cloud service, they are available for customers in real time. The benefits of this feature are enormous. Creaform’s 3D scanning technology is also very versatile because the MetraSCAN 3D-R can be used to measure many different skids with various sizes and shapes. “Whatever our robot can reach, we can scan“ affirms Pär Henriksson, Site Manager of Industrial Service at Plåtson. ”With this equipment, we can choose the right repair method.” Plåtson can now measure up to 350 skids per day, while other scanning equipment could only measure 3 to 5 skids per day. Therefore, they have shorter lead time.
Future Projects
For now, Plåtson only inspects the transport skids with the automated 3D scanning solution. However, the situation could evolve in the future. Plåtson’s client is interested in including the paint skids and assembly skids in the automated measuring station. After seeing the benefits of 3D scanning on the inspection and repair of the transport skids, they are very interested in getting the same measuring system and database for their other skids.
