Forges de Courcelles: Fast production-accompanying measurement of forged parts
Forges de Courcelles: Fast production-accompanying measurement of forged parts
Forges de Courcelles is a forging company based in the Haute-Marne department of the Grand-Est region in France. It is a specialist manufacturer of crankshafts for prestigious automotive brands. With its automated optical 3D measuring cell ATOS ScanBox the business has been able to improve its production processes by shortening inspection times and increasing the amount of data collected.
Since the 1970s, Forges de Courcelles has been introducing industrial presses and induction heating methods to deliver on a mass production scale. Forges de Courcelles has always banked on innovation and development. This includes investment in new machines, production of new parts, robotization and automation of production lines. In June 2018 the ATOS ScanBox 5120 system was installed in the workshops.
Automated and accelerated inspection
Initially, the company saw an opportunity to speed up inspection times. But the full-field 3D scanning offers another advantage: Forges de Courcelles now uses full-field digitalized data generated with ATOS technology for statistical process control in production. At the same time the forge workers receive a 3D view in color of the deviations and material deficiencies of the parts they are manufacturing. During the manufacturing process, production quality control is carried out on three parts. This is to guarantee the geometrical compliance of the parts produced. The complete automation of our crankshaft production lines has greatly increased the production rate. In the past, the measurement process was very time-consuming: The company had to load up the crankshaft, take the measurement, unload it and then redo the whole process twice over for the other two parts. This would take between 10 to 20 minutes per part. Thanks to the GOM setup and its quick measuring procedure and ability to inspect three parts simultaneously, Forges de Courcelles improved its response times in case of issues with parts or deviations from the standard process. It takes now 15 minutes to inspect three parts using the GOM system.
From the very beginning, the company pursued the goal of speeding up testing. In addition, the reliability of the measurement results is elementary in quality assurance. For this reason, the measurement results from GOM were compared in advance with the results of conventional measuring equipment.
Full control over the software
The metrologists use the virtual measuring room (VMR) when programming offline and for assessing measured data. The software processes the captured images and transforms them into meshes for the purposes of conducting the analysis. The employees who perform the measurements, on the other hand, do not have to be software experts. They work via the self-explanatory Kiosk interface. Because of the 3D digitizer, the business is now able to measure 100% of its parts’ surfaces. This opens new prospects for improving the product/process balance. Measured data is contributing to new confidential R&D projects.
Inspection planning for the simultaneous measurement of three parts takes place in the virtual measuring room (VRM) of the GOM software.
Forges de Courcelles
A family-owned business established in the 1880s, Forges de Courcelles is part of the Sifcor Group: a specialist manufacturer of forged automotive parts. It is the second largest European manufacturer of crankshafts for renowned automotive brands such as Renault, Peugeot and BMW.