Close to production, with high cleanliness and air conditioning standards: The two new measuring rooms of Liebherr-Verzahntechnik GmbH at the Ettlingen site are used for quality control during the production of Liebherr gear cutting tools and for contract manufacturing.

In fact, they are not traditional measuring rooms, but two bright, modern measuring cabins, located within the production plant at the Ettlingen site. This is the new home of the latest measuring technology from Liebherr. Constant temperatures, air quality and optimal lighting conditions offer the perfect environment for the measuring instruments and for the four quality assurance staff to carry out their daily tasks. When manufacturing the gear cutting tools, they make sure that the highest standards (up to grade AAA) are also met. The same standard also applies to the various gears manufactured under contract on Liebherr gear cutting machines.

“With the facilities in the new measuring rooms and various updates to our measuring equipment, we have raised quality control for our customers to a new level,” says Uwe Leimenstoll, team leader for quality control at Liebherr. “You could say we get right down to the very last micron to extend our lead with our premium products.”

This also applies when manufacturing the profile grinding discs, where the measuring system is connected to the production machine. The machines constantly exchange data, comparing the target parameters to the actual values. If the inspection machine detects a tolerance deviation, an automatic correction is immediately made on the production machine. The profile grinding disc is then completely machined with the corrected values.

The interface is also compatible with other measuring devices – a step towards an open connection with “LHOpenConnect” (more information here). The documentation of the measurement results is complete and transparent: the results for the func-tionally relevant dimensions are logged and the measurement and inspection records can be made available to the customer if required.

Alongside automation, the expertise of Liebherr’s measurement technicians and workers also plays a key role in the manufacturing of tools and gears. Because the geometries and dimensions of the parts from contract manufacturing vary widely and are sometimes very delicate, every detail is crucial: “We manufacture our tools according to the needs of our customers. This requires so much experience that it’s not easy to automate certain processes,” explains Leimenstoll. The new measuring rooms in Ettlingen are exactly the right environment for the interaction between production, measuring instruments and specialist personnel.