Streamlining Measurement
CogniTens' Optigo Measurement System

Ogihara America Corp. is a tier one automotive supplier and one of the largest independent automotive die manufacturers in the world. A Japanese company, it operates two U.S. facilities: one in Howell, Michigan, and another in Birmingham, Alabama. Ogihara's facilities all over the world share consistent, lean operations, and the company has made a longstanding, continuous effort to improve its operational performance.

The company wanted to lower customer-reported quality issues and to maintain best-quality ratings by transforming reactive quality processes into proactive ones. To that end, Ogihara conducted a thorough evaluation of its quality processes and systems and found that it needed to integrate its product development and manufacturing programs. This called for a dimensional measurement system that could operate in a shop floor environment and help resolve quality concerns using root cause analysis. Ogihara had trouble finding a product that met these demanding needs.

Following a long evaluation and bench-marking period Ogihara identified CogniTens' Optigo, CoreView Pro and Off-Line Measurement products as the only noncontact measuring system capable of meeting its criteria. Throughout tests and trials, Optigo's performance proved it was suitable for versatile operations on the engineering and production floor and highly useful in supporting multiple measurement activities, from die tryout to assembly tool adjustment and quick quality analysis of parts and assemblies.

Initial implementation of the CogniTens products in Ogihara's Howell facility took only a couple of months to complete. A joint team consisting of Ogihara, CogniTens and customer representatives then worked together to fully integrate the new solution into dozens of business processes based on Ogihara's quality process guidelines. As a result, CogniTens' measurement solution was fully implemented within one year.

Following the successful implementation in the Michigan facility, Ogihara expanded its use of the Optigo solution at its Alabama plant, which produces stamping parts and subassemblies for a large original equipment manufacturer (OEM) assembly plant. The solution was rapidly implemented there, maintaining Ogihara's tradition for process commonality and standard methods between the two facilities.

Today, Ogihara uses the Optigo solution throughout the die build and tryout process, to support production parts approval process activities and standard data submittals to OEMs, reengineer existing parts or tools for support vehicles, and in its assembly processes. It has reduced the time it takes to measure a panel and compare results to design intent from a full day using a coordinate measuring machine (CMM), to just hours with Optigo. It has also saved money with root cause assembly quality analysis and accelerated the time it takes to deliver first-production batches of new products.

"With Optigo, we're able to get meaningful dimensional data on automotive panels and assemblies which support our Total Program Management methodology," says Steve Peca, Ogihara America quality systems executive manager.

The new processes have also allowed Ogihara's quality department to develop a unique functional build process that filters out possible assembly problems before the actual assembly operation begins. Other improvements include a 60-percent reduction in the time in takes to resolve customer complaints, improved relations with the OEM quality community, and an optimized tool maintenance program that uses proactive quality evaluation of both tools and produced parts and assemblies.

"Optigo's full-surface measurement, virtual assembly analysis and highly accurate feature measurement opened countless applications which the CMM just could not support," says Peca. "Using CogniTens' full 3-D measurement and meaningful CoreView format results, we can also see where the forming and assembly tools are deteriorating, and schedule maintenance checks and upgrades."

CogniTens' Optigo Measurement System

Benefits:

• A 60-percent reduction in the time it takes to resolve customer complaints
• Improved relations with OEM customers
• Simplified, quick implementation time
• Easily used by shop floor operators and engineers

www.cognitens.com