Real-time machining quality inspection for design for manufacturing (DFM)

A dynamic, globalized and customer-driven market brings opportunities and threats to companies, depending on the response speed and production strategies. One strategy is Concurrent Engineering (CE) that focuses on improving the product development process, by considering various factors associated with the life cycle of the product from the early stages of the product design. Design for Manufacturing (DFM) has proven to be an effective approach to implement CE concept. Recently, an important DFM concept in machining (i.e. a real-time inspection) has drawn much attention from both academia and industry. This is because intense domestic and international competition has put more emphasis on the part quality to achieve a shorter inspection time, improved part accuracies, and reduced scrap. The current methodology, using a machine mounted touch probe, suffers from the fact that the measurement accuracy is affected by the individual machine tool's positional accuracy and positioning system. To address this concern, the cutting experiments were conducted to collect touch probe measurement data. The data were analyzed to verify whether using a touch probe is suitable for real-time inspection. The analysis results show the touch probe has the higher capability index numbers and consistencies than the coordinate measuring machine (CMM), suggesting that the touch probe can be integrated into DFM as a means of real-time quality inspection.