Böllhoff
Böllhoff
Challenges
As an industry leader in joining and assembly solutions, Böllhoff group develop high quality fixtures for a variety of industries, including aerospace, energy and automotive. Additive Marking provided consulting on how to develop End-to-End traceability in the production of spindles for helicoils. Being small in size and having curved surfaces, the helicoild could not be labelled by conventional means. A project was therefore undertaken to identify how best to integrate direct markings onto the parts to facilitate traceability.
Solution
Through our collaboration, we identified laser marking technology as the optimal solution for incorporating unique, machine-readable codes into the spindles. The successful integration of direct labelling into the components presented several benefits: it enabled the capture of data at every manufacturing stage, thereby enhancing quality management across the entire production process. The use of CAD for generating machine-readable codes allowed for parameter assignment to the components with minimal manual intervention, significantly reducing the potential for errors. Most notably, the efficiency of inventory management was dramatically improved. Tools could be tracked and their locations logged directly into the ERP system, streamlining the process and adding substantial value to the operation.
