A quality choice
November 1st 2005

Martin Weeks, director, Mitutoyo (UK) assesses the metrology options available to UK industry and their increasing importance

UK industry needs no reminding that manufacturing is a hard, unforgiving, undertaking. For small firms, as well as for the largest enterprise, the pressure to achieve and maintain peak efficiency in the face of international competition is unrelenting. Significant and regular investment is needed in skilled personnel, efficient machine tools plus effective and reliable quality assurance tools and systems. Success or failure can, and often does, depend on the investment choices made.

The responsibility resting on the shoulders of those responsible for equipment procurement is therefore extremely high.

It is perhaps in the area of quality assurance, and particularly dimensional metrology, where the starkest choices are to be found. On the one hand there are the established vendors offering the highest quality of design, materials and manufacture backed up by knowledgeable local sales and service organisations.

These companies have a reputation for designing, building and supplying top quality products built up over many decades, in some cases even longer, and this is offered to customers as a guarantee that they are buying the best measuring products available. The materials and development costs, especially in improving resistance to degradation due to exposure to machine tool coolants and swarf dust, mean that these high performance products are also relatively high cost.

On the other hand there are the new vendors in the industrially developing areas of the world, notably China, where comparatively low labour costs allow product delivery to the target market at significantly lower prices. These manufacturers have little or no reputation and the products, in general, have very limited support from either the manufacturer or the distributor. Spares may be unobtainable, leaving replacement as the only option. But they are the cheapest products available, and are consequently attractive to those looking to minimise their investment.

Cost of ownership is key

So, on the face of it the choice for the prospective user is to buy the most expensive equipment from a reputable manufacturer, or the cheapest from a relatively unknown source. Assuming the accuracy performance is comparable then, from a budgetary standpoint, this seems an easy one to make. But of course the initial price is not the cost the purchase incurs over time. For industrial use, cost of ownership is the key consideration and for measuring tools and instruments includes ease of operation, longevity, stability, cost of recalibration and servicing. Another, equally important, consideration is how a vendor sees the customer. Mitutoyo sees its customers more as partners in enterprise and supports them as such with all the services they need to employ its products to the best effect. It values a good relationship that can only be of benefit to both partners in the long-term and this is the focus of our UK help-desk services and regional technical specialists.

A further concern is in the case of SPC systems. These often require multi-vendor interoperability where the use of a standard communications protocol is essential. As an example, Chinese linear scales are readily available but many use a completely different protocol and data format from Digimatic, the industry standard.

Ease of operation and stability are vital to efficient production. The consequences for a manufacturing enterprise of failure of a measuring device are often serious. A part can be far more valuable than the cost of the measuring tool that scrapped it through an operator making a reading error or a rapid drift out of specification.

Established vendors make huge investments to ensure that their tools can be used easily and repeatably and hold their accuracy as long as possible.

Servicing costs depend on support from the distributor and manufacturer. An established brand has efficient sales and servicing networks, often worldwide, and can offer specialised advice if needed.

In today's marketplace, where products and the companies that manufacture them are increasingly subject to exacting regulations and requirements, we at Mitutoyo are acutely conscious of the fact that our customers depend on the measuring tools and systems we offer for their continued viability in that marketplace, and are confident that any cost/benefit calculation will clearly show that, where the stakes are as high as this, the only sensible choice is to invest in the best quality tools that money can buy, from a vendor that offers world-class backup and who wants to be your partner in the mutual quest for commercial success.

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