Measuring arm for quality control in series production and for prototypes

Things get heated in the South of France. In outdoor temperatures of 30°C with sparks continuously flying about inside the PONCIN SA factory in the small town of Tarare thoughts quickly turn to the cool wine cellars in nearby Beaujolais. Mediumsized companies are strongly represented in this rural area surrounding the Lyon metropolis. Of around 34,000 companies in the Rhône-Alpes region, well over half have 50 employees or less.

PONCIN specialises in the fabrication of sheet metal in any shape and size. Many of the company’s customers manufacture agricultural machinery and all types of industrial vehicles. Other important fields of business include the construction plant industry, air conditioning and heating equipment and process engineering plant manufacturers, for whom PONCIN prefabricates their housings. Virginie Schillewaert, Quality and Environment Manager, explains: “PONCIN’s strength lies in the vertical integration of its customers’ projects. Stamping, bending, welding, surface treatment and assembly – our 45 employees can perform all the production stages from the raw sheet metal to the finished component. We place great emphasis on achieving the highest quality.“

An extensive and for the most part digitalised machinery park allows the company to work with a diverse range of materials. PONCIN can process steel in thicknesses of 0.5 mm to 20 mm, as well as aluminium up to 12 mm thick. The articles are produced to an accuracy of 0.1 mm. Precision is highly important to PONCIN and its customers. All the parts we produce have to comply with the strict requirements specified in the fabrication data. This prompted one of our customers to recommend that we acquire a modern, precise measuring machine for quality control. With no experience of computeraided industrial metrology, staff at PONCIN made enquiries and searched for a precise, flexible solution. One measuring arm, of a type widely used in quality control, looked promising. . . . .