US-based Optical Gaging Products (OGP), a multi-sensor metrology specialist, is celebrating 75 years at the forefront of manufacturing innovation. Represented in the UK by Derbyshire-based OGP UK, the company has built up a reputation as a world leader in the production of ‘state of the art’ measurement systems for industrial quality control.

OGP systems uses a combination of best-in-class optical, laser and tactile sensors, which collect highly accurate data even on the most complex components and features, with speed and reliability, eliminating the need for multiple specialised measuring systems.

Edward Polidor, chairman and CEO of OGP (a division of Quality Vision International), said: “In my time with the company, I have witnessed a dramatic change in how optical instruments perform measurement.

“When OGP was founded 75 years ago, users typically relied on microscopes and optical comparators, depending entirely on their own judgement to ascertain the measurement. Today, the modern automatic video measuring system is completely computer-controlled, using video cameras that depend little on the operator’s visual skills to produce accurate measurements.

“How these systems became more accurate, automated, faster and ever more capable is OGP’s contribution to this remarkable transformation.”

Ever-tighter tolerances
Working to sub-micron precision, OGP systems stand out in an era of miniaturisation where new material developments and ever-tighter tolerances have made components increasingly challenging to manufacture.

By making more accurate data available to production engineers in real time, OGP technology empowers them to identify and rectify quality control flaws instantly, leading to less scrap, fewer production bottlenecks and higher productivity.

OGP UK managing director Chris Fulton (pictured) said: “OGP systems have played a vital role in ensuring the quality of components used in a wide variety of industrial success stories, from smartphones to electric cars and even the space programme.

“Consumer goods produced in the UK and exported around the world contain parts measured on OGP systems, and we are very proud to be setting the pace in the metrology industry.

“Employees of OGP innovate and execute every day, producing practical solutions for our customers’ most challenging measurement tasks. The company’s 75th anniversary is the perfect time to celebrate that.”

OGP can trace its roots back to 1945 in Buffalo, New York, when a new company was formed to support the fledgling optical comparator industry.

In those very early days, as part of a working relationship with Eastman Kodak, it played its part in the introduction of the telecentric relay lens principle, which is still regarded as the optical system of choice for high-precision machines.

During the intervening years, OGP’s market-leading technologies have acted as a growth engine for manufacturers everywhere. The company introduced the Vidicom Qualifier in 1980, the first truly revolutionary computer-controlled automatic video measuring system, then pioneered multi-sensor measurement by adding lasers and touch probes to video systems in 1986 with the IQ-2000.

Today, OGP’s flagship Vantage range features a combination of self-calibrating TeleStar optics alongside automatically deployed lasers and probes, so that the machines seamlessly deliver hundreds of part measurements in 3-D graphical displays, without the need for operator intervention.