Braun: One Image Says More Than a Thousand Numbers
Braun: One Image Says More Than a Thousand Numbers
The product portfolio of the Procter & Gamble subsidiary Braun includes electric razors, epilators and hair and dental care appliances under well-known brands such as Gillette and Oral-B. Braun has already taken numerous prizes for the design of its high-quality products and gives priority to precision and dimensional accuracy during manufacturing.
Braun uses the ATOS 3D digitizer along with the GOM inspection software to ensure the quality of its products. The software has a parametric kernel, which stores links and creation paths of individual elements, for example, as a complete evaluation. This means that a second part can be assigned the same evaluation without the need for further programming, thereby simplifying all recurring measurement tasks. Operators simply load the measuring data (STL mesh) and press the update button. Inspection then runs automatically on the second part and includes creation of the evaluation report. When changes are required in the measurement program, the parametric system transfers these changes to all the elements involved. Hundreds of parts are measured and evaluated in this way at Braun today—during the standardized first article inspection and preproduction inspection processes.
Full-field part digitizing
The ATOS 3D digitizer captures the entire surface of the part instead of just a few individual points. During evaluation, deviations from CAD data are highlighted in color, producing self-explanatory corrective measures in easy-to-understand measurement reports. Another advantage is that Braun can exchange all its measuring results inside the company with the free GOM Inspect software. Quality managers can evaluate the results together with other production facilities, which accelerates the decision-making process.
Specific tool corrections
Optical measurement technology is used not only for first article inspection but also for tool correction. To fulfill the high optical and haptic requirements for its products, Braun uses metallic coatings in addition to various materials during manufacture. As a result, the plastic parts have different geometric properties after coating. They may also warp because of mechanical tensioning. Such parts are now measured before and after coating to reveal shrinkage and warpage compared with the CAD model and to reveal any corrections that the tool requires. It is vital for the design engineer to be able to change the CAD model to ensure that the product can be produced with the correct dimensions.
Simplifying technical drawings
Another use of optical measurement technology at Braun is to identify potential problems that commonly occur on injection-molded parts, such as sink marks, misaligned ejectors, protruding gates or even component warp. The results of full-field measurement make it possible to identify these promptly, to pinpoint their location and support them with data. This is a great advantage for mold makers since they quickly see whether and how they need to intervene in the tool geometry or whether parameters on the injection molding machine need changing.
With the full-field surface comparison against CAD data, the experts at Braun can detect whether a specific problem lies in the tool or in the injection molding process. Since Braun rolled out optical measurements, it has been able to simplify its technical drawings and inspection reports. Whereas previous inspection plans consisted of columns of figures, the full-field data base and transparent evaluation showing deviations from CAD in color now provide a simple visualization of the evaluation results. Several hundred pages of conventional tables from test reports can be reduced to a handful of images and functional dimensions. As a result, technical drawings can be simplified in advance. To provide a fast overview, the full-field measuring data of a component is compared with CAD data. The inspection elements are reduced to relevant functional dimensions and GD&T elements and then inspected.
3D measurement technology enables Braun to guarantee the dimensional precision of the design for all freeform surfaces, specific dimension adjustments during the galvanizing process and the dimensional inspection of all its parts. Another advantage is that it can simplify its technical drawings and inspection reports.
Braun GmbH
Braun is a German consumer products company based in the Taunus region, producer of body care and household products. Since 2005, Braun is part of Procter & Gamble. Braun is especially known on the market for its product design.