The University of Surrey has long been recognised as one of the UK’s leading institutions for engineering and technology education. Home to a department that prides itself on providing students with access to state-of-the-art technology, the university is committed to equipping the next generation of engineers with not just knowledge, but hands-on experience with industry-standard equipment and processes.
To maintain its standing as a premier destination for future engineers, the university’s manufacturing facility must mirror the high-spec environments found in modern industry. With a constant influx of student projects and research requests, the department’s workload is significant. Every component produced, from 2D milled parts to complex cylindrical items, must be inspected and graded to ensure the highest standards of accuracy.
To support this, the University of Surrey recently invested in the Metrios Cross, a state-of-the-art digital optical measuring machine from VICIVISION UK and Metrios UK, to revolutionise their inspection throughput.
Myles Jenkinson, Design & Engineering Manager, said: “We’re constantly aspiring to keep up to date with engineering standard technologies, so the students have access to the best state of the art kit. So what they’ll see on the outside, is what they’ll see here at the University.”
Project Brief:
As the volume of student intake grew, traditional inspection methods became a major bottleneck. The department was processing over 50 students every week, requiring staff to manually grade each part using CMM arms and handheld tools such as micrometers and vernier calipers.
The process was extremely time consuming, with staff spending half their day teaching and the other half marking student parts. To maintain productivity and allow the department to continue fabricating parts for the rest of the campus, the university needed a foolproof solution that could measure multiple parts at once without sacrificing accuracy.
The Solution:
The University of Surrey chose the Metrios Cross for its intuitive design and versatility. Designed to operate effortlessly on the shopfloor, the Metrios allows staff and students to measure dimensions by simply drawing on the screen with a finger, making it as straightforward to use as a smartphone.
The addition of a rotary table attachment further expanded the department’s capabilities, allowing for the real-time inspection of cylindrical parts manufactured on the lathes. This ensures that what students see and use at the university is exactly what they will encounter in industry-standard environments.
The Benefits:
Since integrating the Metrios, the University has seen a large increase in productivity. Marking a module’s worth of student parts, which previously would have taken half a day, can now be completed within the space of 15 to 20 minutes. Because the machine can measure multiple parts at the same time rather than individually, the department no longer has to ‘close doors’ or stop manufacturing for the rest of campus during busy marking periods.
Beyond the student modules, the Metrios has become a vital tool for researchers and academics. The machine provides the capability to reverse engineer specialised or dated parts that have been supplied without original documentation or CAD files. This allows the team to scan an item and draw the information needed to produce modifications in a fraction of the time it took previously.
Why VICIVISION UK?
The decision to work with the VICIVISION UK, part of the Carfulan Group, was driven by the university’s aspiration to keep up to date with industry-standard technologies. Having already established a partnership with the Carfulan Group, the choice to invest in the Metrios was a natural next step.
The support provided by the Carfulan Group ensured the university was up and running almost immediately, with installation occurring the day after delivery followed by training straight after the commissioning of the machine.