Protolabs has started 2019 with the introduction of detailed measurement and inspection reporting, the first part of the company’s in-house secondary services offering across Europe, and in addition to their standard quality control process.
The turnaround times for each process varies and is dependent on factors such as part complexity and quantity.
As part of its standard process, Protolabs undertake X, Y, Z measurements at the start of the production run as well as at final inspection. The additional measurement and inspection services complement the standard process to meet specific customer requirements.
Secondary Services have been launched to provide additional support for on-demand manufacturing requirements and will launch additional value add secondary operations such as surface treatment and assembly later in the year.
Stephen Dyson, Protolabs’ special operations manager said: “Our customers really value our rapid manufacturing services for low-volume parts and prototypes, but they now want the benefit of on-demand manufacturing for production parts, which have higher expectations for sampling, measurement and process documentation.”
Mr Dyson continued: “The marked increase from customers across all industries wanting to take advantage of the speed and flexibility of on-demand manufacturing brings with it a desire to simplify the supply chain. We are offering Secondary Services to reduce the number of process steps that the customer has to manage, saving time and resources.”
In many industries there are particular quality processes and procedures, such as First article inspection (FAI), Initial Sample Inspection Report (ISIR) and Product Part Approval Process (PPAP). Some of these have originated from the aerospace industry, some from automotive, but many industries have adopted these procedures as they provide a framework for establishing confidence in component suppliers and their production processes. It also provides the necessary control documentation.
As part of the launch of its Secondary Services, Protolabs will be conducting a webinar on 28th February 2019. The webinar is for engineers and designers looking to further understand the process variations that occur when designing for injection moulding, and to learn how to prepare for these variations effectively.
Protolabs www.protolabs.co.uk/secondary-services
