The portable measuring system in use at Silbitz Guss is an all-round performer: it can scan, take tactile measurements, mark the parts and automatically connect the Laser Tracker to handheld devices. To the benefit of the foundry‘s customers.

Silbitz Guss manufactures one-off components as well as small and medium-scale series-produced parts for various industries. Many of the foundry’s customers come from the energy and railway industries – two fields where the generous dimensions of products frequently impress. Components up to 6 m diameter and weighing 30 t are quite usual for Silbitz Guss and its sister company Zeitzer Guss. Ease of movement and visual inspection are not typical features of these objects and therefore they present a real challenge to quality assurance technicians.

Marking with the measuring machine
“When you wish to measure large parts, you come up against a whole series of questions,” says Knut Fitzner, responsible for quality at Silbitz Guss. “You have to determine whether you can move the part quickly – for example on a measuring machine.

Then you need to know whether a stationary measuring system can reach everywhere on the part or are there any dead zones,” continues Mr. Fitzner. However, another requirement was crucial to the decision to procure a new measuring system: Silbitz Guss wanted to mark its parts with the measuring machine. Knut Fitzner: “Our customers increasingly wished to be supplied with marked unfinished parts – and to do this marking during measurement saves considerable time and provides us with . . . . .