Growth drives investment in quality processes at Plastic Turned Parts

The positive news continues to come out of Hertfordshire-based Plastic Turned Parts as it makes further investment in its processes to ensure smooth flow of work as demand for its expertise as one of the UK’s foremost exponents of machining plastic components increases.

As sales continue to increase for Plastic Turned Parts the need to drive efficiency becomes ever more important. While recent investment in machine tool technology has increased machining capacity, focus then turned to quality and improving throughput through the inspection department. The result was the decision to purchase a Keyence IM 7020 Image Dimension Measuring System, which will help to improve workflow through the quality control department, with its ability to accurately measure width, radius, and height dimensions on a wide range of components quickly, with minimal manual intervention. The system also automatically records and stores all measurement data as soon as the part is measured. Traceability and efficiency is maintained as inspection reports can be created with a simple push of a button on the system’s interface.

This optical comparator system allows up to 99 dimensions to be measured on up to 99 parts, all within a matter of seconds, and to sub-micron accuracy. As a result, the IM 7020 is proving highly effective and versatile for Plastic Turned Parts in its volume manufacture of small to medium sized components.

“The system is incredibly easy to use, it’s almost plug and play,”

says Jonathan Newis, Managing Director, Plastic Turned Parts.

“We can program it for volume parts that are likely to repeat or, it is just as straightforward and versatile when measuring individual parts. As we get busier due to increased production demand, some of which is driven by reshoring by existing and new customers, we foresaw a potential bottleneck in the quality department. The addition of this Keyence IM 7020 system overcomes that issue, while ensuring that we have a detailed log of every component that passes through it.”