I just returned from our workshop, where I have been working on a product with a file, controlling measurements with a vernier caliper. You can get far with traditional measuring tools, and for many products this is all the accuracy needed.
But imagine a satellite 36.000 km away from here, receiving and sending data. The hardware has to be extremely precise, otherwise the information sent in this direction will miss planet Earth and end up in a completely different solar system.
To avoid this, the accuracy of every component in the satellite needs to be precise beyond compare. A vernier caliper is completely unfit for use.
At EA-Connect, we deliver high quality parts for every purpose, and a couple of years ago we realized, that there was no way back – we had to learn how to work with Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS), which is a language for creating 3D product descriptions.
You will never hear me saying it has been easy piece of cake, on the contrary, it has been and still is a challenge to understand and communicate in 3D. Somehow you have to rethink everything.
But it’s really worth the effort!
Tolerance of the quarter of a hair
Demands for exactness are increasing, because we expect a continuous upgrade of product performance. In case with the satellite, items for data transfer could never be produced with traditional measuring tools – it’s just not possible.
Every hole has to be perfectly concentric, and also the distance between the holes must be precise. A hair is two times as thick as the tolerance, which we are working with here. In addition, you have to be able to quality check and to repeat the process for mass production.
If we define product specifications in the same accurate language, this is all obtainable. So, although abstruse, I believe that GPS is the only answer.
