The Holistic Process Integration Increases the Inspection Performance in the Automated Manufacturing

The Manufacturing Execution System (MES) ZEISS GUARDUS and the Metrology Software ZEISS CALYPSO now Bring the Inspection Dynamic Modification to the Next Level.

The smooth interaction between ZEISS GUARDUS and ZEISS CALYPSO uses the business potentials of automation in the manufacturing as well as underlying quality process to the full. This will be shown at the Control 2020 Trade Fair in Stuttgart 5 - 8 May. This holistic process integration reduces the technology barriers which exist in many places in the production and increases the inspection performance in the automated manufacturing.

The basis for this is, on the one hand, the interlinking between the steering shop floor IT and the involved measuring and inspection systems not only in-line but also in the test laboratory and, on the other hand, the bundled competences of the dynamic modification of the two worlds. “Thus, ZEISS GUARDUS users are able to interlace the diverse logics of the dynamic modification of the MES with the dynamic programs of the ZEISS metrology”, says Simone Cronjäger, CEO of Carl ZEISS MES Solutions GmbH.

The first step was to implement the characteristic-related procedure: At the beginning of a laboratory inspection, ZEISS GUARDUS provides the measuring machine with the explicit sample number as well as with information about the inspection characteristics which are relevant after all in the light of quality history, production situation and dynamic modification rules. This selection is then taken over by ZEISS CALYPSO. The calculation method of the metrology software calculates the ideal travel path between the dynamic features ad hoc, so that no time or work is necessary for programming. The results of the inspection will be sent back to the MES through a bidirectional communication method and flow into the next inspection cycle.

“This holistic process perspective does not only reduces the time spent on laboratory inspections, but also accelerates the entire quality control loop” says Cronjäger. If a measurement result exceeds its tolerance limits, the regulating feedback is obviously sent to the production more quickly. Moreover, the machine productivity and investment will also be influenced in a positive way because sped up measurement runs free up capacities on the measuring machines.

In order to prevent that the sustainable trend towards automation and flexibility of production lines is hindered by long-winded quality inspections, ZEISS GUARDUS offers various standard methods which systematically reduce their volume and frequency, such as: sampling methods or dynamic modification procedures related to characteristics, lots, batches or suppliers as well as methods which are dependent on time, quantity or machine. Thus, the decreasing inspection efforts optimise the efficiency and productivity along the entire value-added process.

The implementation and usage of this dynamic balance between production performance and inspection efforts already form part of the daily routine of many manufacturing plants today. However, the situation is different in automated environments: When software applications interact with measuring machines, the machine software is often the element where the acceleration potential reaches its limits because most of the measuring programs which are available on the market require expensive programming work to be able to individually adapt their measuring sequences to the dynamic modification rules. This will lead not only to disadvantageous additional investments, but also to delays and loss of time. This is where ZEISS GUARDUS and ZEISS CALYPSO solution comes into play. Both systems are able to cover and to implement dynamic modification concepts in an interconnected way. “Through the connection between a highly integrated MES production context and the agility of innovative machine software, the ZEISS customers are provided with completely new tools for the targeted acceleration of their quality control loops according to the requirements of digitalisation”, says Cronjäger.