Based in Littlehampton, West Sussex, Meridian Medical Ltd specialises in the design, development and manufacture of sterile and non-sterile medical devices; the company also supplies production tooling for customer projects from its 9,000ft² purpose-built manufacturing facilities, which house clean-room injection moulding capabilities as well as large clean-room assembly and packing operations for a range of products, including those for drug delivery, IV management, paediatric and neonatal critical care, urology, anaesthesia and general surgical devices.

Given the nature of Meridian Medical’s products, the company has to guarantee regulatory compliance, so all its test equipment is calibrated and traceable to national and international standards.

A recent addition to the company’s scope of inspection capabilities is an Axiom Too co-ordinate measuring machine from Gloucestershire-based Aberlink Ltd (www.aberlink.com).

Meridian Medical’s managing director, James Fenton, said: “Our company has earned an enviable reputation for its design consultancy services and advanced manufacturing.

“We supply high-quality disposable medical devices, together with comprehensive sterilisation services and logistics.

"We are registered to ISO 9001:2008, ISO13485: 2003 and FDA 21CFR 820, so quality and reliability are designed and built into every device we produce.

“Although we have a wide range of specialised test and measurement equipment, increased production recently prompted us to search for an accurate universal dimensional measuring device that offered ease of use and speed of operation.

"Following a very successful demonstration — and recommendations from local Aberlink users — we opted for the CNC version of Aberlink’s Axiom Too CMM.

“Now fully operational, this machine has removed the potential for hold-ups in our QA department, while its ability to perform rapid automated inspection routines means it will be able to handle all anticipated future demands.

"It is currently used for measuring first-off and last-off components, as well as inspecting a given percentage of each manufactured batch; and because traceability is vital in the medical industry, it helps that our new CMM can generate detailed reports relating to the critical dimensions of each inspected component.

“Moreover, given the generous size of the Axiom Too’s bed and its automatic operation, we intend to invest in fixtures that will accept large batches of components requiring 100% inspection.

“This will allow us to undertake high-volume unmanned measuring routines at the touch of a button — and have a detailed report for each part.”

Available in both manual and CNC variants, as well as a range of capacities, the Axiom Too features an aluminium bridge with a very low thermal mass, allowing it to be used in either controlled environments (such as inspection departments) or in ‘less than perfect ’ shopfloor conditions.

The machine’s low inertia is reflected in its speed of operation, while the table’s granite/aluminium honeycomb construction provides natural damping and further improves the machine’s thermal properties.

Furthermore, Aberlink’s 3-D software provides a ‘simultaneous’ picture of a part (on the computer screen) as it is being measured.

‘Aerospace sector

Also benefitting from an Aberlink CMM is Nasmyth Bulwell, which specialises in the manufacture of precision parts, kits, airframe assemblies and sub-assemblies for the aerospace industry at its facility in Pinxton, Nottinghamshire.

This company uses a wide range of CNC machine tools to produce fine-tolerance components in a variety of materials, including steel, aluminium, Nimonic alloys and super-alloys; it also undertakes water-jet cutting, heat treatment, anodising and non-destructive testing — plus paint and plasma spraying.

Moreover, its quality management system has been developed to encompass all aerospace-industry standards.

Nasmyth Bulwell uses a wide range of inspection aids, including six large-capacity CMMs located in an environment-controlled inspection facility.

In response to ‘cost down’ pressures and to complement the company’s existing CMMs, a search was recently made for a robust and accurate CMM that could deliver the required levels of speed and precision on the shopfloor.

Quality manager Jonathan Walsh selected one of Aberlink’s Xtreme CNC CMMs.

He said: “We operate in a fiercely competitive industry and have to ensure that we deliver premium-quality parts; we are also constantly exploring more-efficient ways of both manufacturing and inspecting our output.

"We have recently been awarded contracts worth more than £60 million from a major aerospace OEM for the supply of both legacy and new components, including those for engines that are fitted to the latest wide-body aircraft.

“As our new Xtreme CMM was due to operate in a non-temperature-controlled production environment — and despite Aberlink providing assurances regarding the Xtreme’s accuracy — we verified the machine’s performance by measuring several complex tight-tolerance components on it, then on our inspection department CMMs. The readings corresponded.

“The accuracy and speed of our new Aberlink CMM mean that it can perform comprehensive inspection routines on manufactured components within the cycle time of the machine tool it is located next to.

Moreover, rather than our machine operators taking a first-off part to our inspection department for pass-off and possibly waiting for a CMM to complete its current task, they can quickly confirm a component’s dimensions before commencing full production.

“Furthermore, the speed of feed-back achieved allows adjustments to be quickly made when a feature is drifting from its nominal size. This capability has increased our efficiency and further reduced our already low scrap rates.”

Launched at the MACH 2016 exhibition, the Aberlink Xtreme CMM has a non-cartesian structure and makes use of linear motors and mechanical bearings in an arrangement designed to ensure that it maintains measuring accuracy at very fast measurement speeds and does not suffer from the cumulative inaccuracies that occur in conventional three-axis cartesian arrangements.

Furthermore, the Xtreme’s integral temperature control function ensures that accuracy levels are maintained even when the ambient temperature is not controlled.