Gatekeeper of Quality

Two meters deep, 1.2 meters wide and exactly one meter high – this is the gateway to the world of engines at DEUTZ AG in Cologne, defined by the X, Y and Z axes of a new portal coordinate measuring machine in incoming goods inspection. All supplier parts must pass through this bottleneck, which is closely guarded by quality inspectors during initial sampling. Access is granted only to flawless components. For several months now, inspections have become more detailed while at the same time being carried out significantly faster.

Founded in 1864, the German manufacturer produces diesel, gas and electrified engines. Every 90 seconds, a new DEUTZ engine leaves the Cologne-Porz plant for use in construction and agricultural machinery, material handling applications, stationary systems, and commercial and rail vehicles. As the headquarters of DEUTZ AG, Cologne-Porz is also the central research and development location for all DEUTZ engines. Since 2017, the site has additionally been home to the Competence Center for Rotary Parts, specializing in crankshaft and camshaft production.

“Virtually every engine component ends up on our measuring table,” explains Thomas Kersting, Head of Incoming Goods Inspection and a quality management specialist in the purchasing department. This is not about series or production-related testing. “Our primary task is initial sampling – the go or no-go decision for our parts suppliers,” says Kersting. Incoming goods inspection therefore bears central gatekeeper responsibility for access to DEUTZ engine production. Without taking the greatest care to separate the wheat from the chaff quickly and at an early stage, there would be far-reaching consequences for all subsequent process steps.

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“It is true that our existing portal measuring machines, which form the core of our inspection equipment, continued to operate reliably. Nevertheless, they would probably not have prepared us optimally for the new and growing challenges,” explains Kersting. For example, installing a current version of the measurement software would have required upgrading the machine control system at the same time — an investment that, in his view, would have been comparable to purchasing a new small measuring machine.

Kersting first became aware of a coherent overall strategy for addressing future requirements at CONTROL, among other occasions. “There were plenty of suitable measuring machines available,” he recalls of the subsequent selection process, “but many suppliers failed to consider the bigger picture or to develop an integrated concept tailored to our very specific conditions and processes.”

With extensive experience in distinguishing between viable and unsuitable solutions, Kersting and his fellow decision-makers ultimately awarded the contract to Klostermann Ingenieurbüro und Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH from Remscheid, the WENZEL representative for North Rhine-Westphalia.

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“At the heart of the overall concept at DEUTZ is the WENZEL LH 1210 3D coordinate measuring machine,” explains Klostermann. “It is a CNC gantry-type CMM designed for switching, tactile and optical measurement as well as indexed probe systems — a dynamic, high-precision machine.”

With measuring ranges of 2,000 millimeters in the X-axis, 1,200 millimeters in the Y-axis and 1,000 millimeters in the Z-axis, and a load capacity of 2,300 kilograms, the system easily accommodates complete engine blocks. In addition to the configuration selected for DEUTZ AG, the WENZEL LH 1210 is also available with measuring ranges of up to 8,000 millimeters in the Y-axis and load capacities of up to 3,250 kilograms.

“With the WENZEL LH 1210, DEUTZ achieves a length measurement error of mPEE = 2.2 μm,” Klostermann continues. “The machine is equipped with a PH10M rotary/swivel head and an SP25 probe from Renishaw, as well as the SHAPETRACER optical 3D line scanner from WENZEL.”

“The new possibilities offered by the rotary/swivel head — and especially by the line scanner — take us into a completely different league,” says Kersting. Thanks to the movable head, even complex inspection routines with measurement points in various orientations can now be completed quickly and safely, without the risk of collisions. “On certain components, we easily save 20 to 30 percent of the measurement time,” Kersting notes.

He adds: “With the 3D line scanner, we can now digitize component geometries over large areas and evaluate them extremely quickly. With the previous tactile equipment alone, this was either not possible at all or only with excessive effort. For us, it is almost a quantum leap.”

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Above all, however, the new measurement software implemented by Klostermann opens up entirely new possibilities for the engine manufacturer. “With WM | Quartis from WENZEL, DEUTZ undoubtedly has one of the most powerful measurement software solutions on the market,” Klostermann is convinced.

And indeed, based on the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface, WM | Quartis impresses with extremely intuitive operation as well as straightforward execution and evaluation of measurement programs. A configurable speed-dial dashboard, for example, allows stored measurement programs to be launched quickly — enabling even less experienced users to carry out inspections reliably. At the same time, different hierarchical user levels provide flexible access rights, ranging from the adjustment of individual parameters to full access to the measurement program itself.

“As a result, virtually all ten employees in incoming goods inspection can now work with the system, regardless of their individual level of metrological expertise,” says Thomas Kersting. “With several thousand measurement programs stored, this is a real relief — and a significant boost in productivity.”

Looking back on the collaboration, Kersting adds: “I can honestly say that Klostermann listened very carefully when we explained our requirements — and even fulfilled some that we didn’t yet know we had.”

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