Customer:
Benda Tool & Model Works Inc.
Hercules, California
Channel Partner:
Indicate Technologies
Santa Clara, California
Background:
Benda Tool & Model Works Inc. is a California-based company that provides machining and secondary processing services to its affiliate, A & B Die Casting Company. A & B Die Casting supplies precision aluminum and zinc die castings that require value-added machining, finishing and assembly. Cosmetic services such as powder coating, electroplating, anodizing and painting are also provided. In addition to decorative finishes, customers can also select special coatings that withstand atmospheric corrosion and are wear resistant. A & B Die Casting and Benda Tool support customers in many industries, including Telecommunications, Medical Devices, Test & Measurement, Defense, Transportation, RF/Wireless and Global Positioning Systems.
Situation:
To speed first article inspection, Benda Tool began to seek out alternatives to its traditional coordinate measuring machine (CMM) process. “Our castings tend to be complex in shape, with many curves and contours,” explains Gerald Academia, Quality Manager at Benda Tool. “We were looking to get faster feedback and considered adding a scanning head to our CMM, but then decided to look at automated scanners.”
Solution:
After researching a number of automated 3D scanners, Benda Tool worked closely with ShapeGrabber channel partner Indicate Technologies to evaluate and select the best solution for its needs. Benda Tool chose the ShapeGrabber Ai810 scanner, which is ideal for quickly scanning parts that vary in size and shape.
Today, the company is using the scanner in concert with its CMMs to quickly validate the complete geometry of its castings, troubleshoot problems, and gain better feedback into the manufacturing process.
“Some of our tool makers don’t perform first article inspections of their molds, so it’s critical for us to find out if the tool is made properly,” says Academia. “After scanning parts with the ShapeGrabber scanner, we can spot deviations very efficiently and quickly thanks to the color plots we generate from the 3D scan data. This has shortened our feedback loop with the tool maker because in the past, we might not spot the problem until much later in the production process.”
In addition to gaining the ability to improve product quality and compliance without slowing down production, Benda Tool is also seeing additional benefits that extend beyond the shop floor. “Not only are we saving time and effort, we’re improving our interactions with customers because our clients and prospects are always impressed to learn that we’re using advanced inspection technology,” adds Academia. “It’s now an important selling point for us in our discussions with customers.”
About Benda Tool & Model Works Inc.
Benda Tool & Model Works Inc. is the machining, finishing and management arm of A & B Die Casting, one of the key precision die casting companies in the Western United States. The company builds its business upon the same core principles Ben Dathe established when he founded the company over 70 years ago.
About Indicate Technologies
Indicate Technologies Inc. is a value-added supplier of precision measurement equipment with locations in the Silicon Valley and the Pacific Northwest, serving the high-technology markets of the Western United States since 2004. We provide products and services to a wide range of industries and industry leading companies. From electronics and energy, aerospace and automotive, medical device and R&D markets, we bring experience to our customer’s individual needs.
About ShapeGrabber
ShapeGrabber is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quality Vision International, the world’s largest vision metrology company. Based in Ottawa, Canada, ShapeGrabber designs, manufactures, and sells automated 3D scanners that are ideal for measuring complex shapes such as injection-molded plastics, castings, and stampings that are otherwise too time consuming, costly, or difficult to measure. Considered to be one of the industrial pioneers in the field, ShapeGrabber has been supplying automated 3D scanners to customers in the automotive, aerospace, medical, and other industries since 1993.