The U.S. Navy‘s Fleet Readiness Center Southwest has acquired a Zeiss-built machine for $500,000 to help support accuracy in the manufacturing of aircraft parts.The Navy said Tuesday the Coordinate Measuring Machine works to provide 0.001-inch manufacturing measurement precision and help measure manufactured parts ahead of installation.
FRCSW purchased CMM through the Naval Air Systems Command’s Capital Investment Program which aims to invest in new technology to aid efficiency, the Navy added.
Martha Hoffman, CIP project manager, said the project was awarded in April and completed in November ahead of a projected 12-month schedule.
Machinist Kevin Guittar said CMM runs approximately six times faster than its predecessor that was built in the 1990s.
Guittar added CMM is the manufacturing department’s third measuring machine and a fourth will arrive soon from the reverse engineering unit.
The new machine is designed to apply a computer-aided design and manufacturing software toolkit as well as adapt to future sensor and software requirements, the Navy noted.
Zeiss administered a week-long certification class to five personnel who will operate CMM, the Navy added.
