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As one of the world’s leading metrology solutions providers, Renishaw strives to consistently deliver quality to its customers across some of the most demanding industry sectors. Whether in the automotive, aerospace, or medical industries, manufacturers need confidence in the quality of their products and the accuracy of their inspection processes.
Third-party accredited traceable measurements on manufacturing components are often a pre-requisite for orders in many of its customers’ industries. This is primarily due to the safety-critical nature of measured parts – for example, IATF 16949 in the automotive sector.
To demonstrate both its commitment to excellence in manufacturing as well as the performance of its measurement system solutions, Renishaw sought the services of UKAS. Renishaw considers UKAS accreditation to be the gold standard for calibration laboratories, providing the highest level of independent assessment of processes and services.
Calibrating confidence
Renishaw initially obtained UKAS accreditation against ISO/IEC 17025 in November 2008 to provide accredited calibration in support of the verification of Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) to ISO 10360-2 and ISO 10360-5 (single stylus probing test) international standards. The primary service covered by the scope of this accreditation is the performance verification of CMMs at customer premises. This testing provides customers with confidence in their measurement systems and is conducted following the supply of new CMM systems, during annual re-evaluation or after performing CMM upgrades and retrofits.
UKAS accreditation assures that Renishaw and its staff are competent to operate procedures to the ISO standard, giving customers a higher degree of confidence in the results delivered. Renishaw’s lead CMM product support engineer, Johnson Zhang, explained: “One benefit of having UKAS accreditation is its credibility, confirming the traceability of our quality process and compliance with ISO standards. UKAS also audits the competency of our engineers annually to ensure that Renishaw provides a consistently high quality of service to our customers.”
Renishaw’s second UKAS-accredited laboratory service takes place at the company’s New Mills facility in the South West of England. This dedicated calibration laboratory performs measurements of receiver and position gauges, jigs and fixtures up to 850 mm x 850 mm x 850 mm in size, with a measurement uncertainty of 1.8 + (12 x length in metres) µm. In addition to performing these measurements, the on-site calibration laboratory aids the development and verification of various Renishaw products, such as the calibration of master reference parts for users of its Equator™ gauging system.
The lab also supports activities within the company’s additive manufacturing (AM) group, providing calibration of its Optical System Verification (OSV) product which is used to calibrate the laser system on Renishaw’s AM machines. The calibration of the OSV product requires the repeated measurement of 169 balls set in a plate across a 12-hour run time. An intense and extensive process that makes the accuracy and repeatability of the CMM vital.
Renishaw’s AM Strategic Development Manager, Matt Parkes, explained: “Having certified traceability is a unique selling point for us over our AM machine competitors and is highly valuable for our customers, particularly those in regulated markets like aerospace and medical. It provides a high confidence level in the OSV product, and subsequently the AM product.”
Additional advantages of UKAS accreditation
Owing to its participation in several multilateral agreements, UKAS accreditation is recognised in over 100 economies across the world. This is of great value to a global company like Renishaw, serving its international customer base via over 5,000 employees located across 36 countries.
The benefits of UKAS accreditation also have spread across multiple facets of Renishaw’s business activities and are much greater than the services covered in the scope of its accreditation. The rigour of the UKAS assessment process has supported an improvement in Renishaw’s own internal manufacturing processes, leading to a greater quality of products.