Optics Valley Technical Series: Shop Floor Surface Measurements

Manufacturers of medical devices, aerospace components, automotive parts, and other precision components are continually challenged to improve surface quality. Small surface defects can dramatically affect lifetime and performance of parts. Even non-functional finish and surface defects can affect appearance, leading to part rejections and loss of market share.

This talk will provide an overview of:

• Surface measuring technologies include hard gauges, stylus systems, and various line and area-based non-contact optical systems
• Key system attributes to weigh when choosing the best system for a given application
• Case studies showing how implementing instantaneous measurements on the shop floor can improve quality, yield, and labor costs, streamlining the overall manufacturing operation

A key focus will be on systems capable of measuring features from micrometers to millimeters where tolerances are increasingly tightening yet relatively few systems have high capability.

Who Should Attend:

• Operations
• Quality and compliance managers
• Engineers manufacturing precision components

Our Presenter: 

Erik Novak, PhD, is Director of Business Development for 4D Technology and has been responsible for driving the company’s products into new markets since 2013. He has been developing instrumentation for precision metrology for more than 24 years in applications such as semiconductor, optics, aerospace, automotive, photovoltaics, and medical devices. Erik has received seven international product awards, holds over a dozen patents, and has more than 60 publications and book chapters related to surface measurement and industrial process control.

Thank you to our sponsors:

4D Technology is a leader in innovative metrology products for measuring surface quality and surface defects on precision surfaces, as well as the surface and wavefront quality of optics. 4D’s patented Dynamic Interferometry®technology enables 4D’s laser interferometry products to measure in difficult environments, where vibration, air turbulence or rapid motion have traditionally prevented accurate measurement.

Optics Valley, a committee of the Arizona Technology Council, is one of the leading clusters for optics, photonics and astronomy in the world. Optics Valley’s mission is to catalyze, convene and connect optics, photonics, astronomy and the supporting business interests throughout Arizona.