Addressing Qualification Bottlenecks: AddQual's Metrology-Driven Mission
The intricacies of developing, manufacturing, and maintaining advanced components in sectors like aerospace, power generation, and medical demand rigorous qualification and verification processes. However, these essential steps are often plagued by inefficiencies, leading to increased scrap costs, production bottlenecks, and frustrating product launch delays. It was these very challenges, the "personal pains" as he describes them, that spurred Ben Anderson, founder and Managing Director of AddQual Ltd, to establish a company focused on revolutionising the approach to metrology and quality assurance.
Speaking about the genesis of AddQual, Anderson reflects on the traditional landscape: "I witnessed firsthand the struggles manufacturers faced in reliably qualifying their critical components. There was often a disconnect between the vast amounts of measurement data being generated and the ability to translate that data into confident decisions. The processes were frequently time-consuming, costly, and prone to inconsistencies due to manual interpretation."
At its core, AddQual exists to streamline and enhance the qualification process for safety-critical components . The company offers a suite of services specifically designed to tackle the pain points inherent in traditional quality control methodologies.
One of AddQual’s key offerings is component qualification services, including capturing and reporting metrology data for parts ranging from 2mm³ to 2m³ across a variety of materials. Anderson explains the necessity for this: "OEMs and MROs in safety-critical industries often grapple with unclear or incomplete inspection requirements. This can lead to significant delays and costly rework. AddQual steps in to partner closely with customers, helping them clarify and refine their metrology requirements, ensuring precise alignment with stringent safety and quality standards." By developing and integrating dimensional metrology systems, AddQual provides an autonomous approach to inspection and improvement.
Production inspection is another critical area where AddQual provides solutions. The sheer volume of metrology and quality control data being collected can overwhelm manufacturers, leading to a "doom loop" of information overload without actionable insights. Anderson elaborates: "Companies are drowning in data, yet struggling to extract meaningful insights. Our production inspection services leverage metrology and fixturing expertise, automation, and data management software to optimise process outputs. This moves manufacturers away from relying on engineers' subjective interpretation and towards a structured, automated approach."
Furthermore, AddQual addresses the need for CI (Continuous Improvement) Investigations. When inconsistencies or failures occur, understanding the root cause requires detailed and reliable data. Anderson highlights the limitations of traditional methods: "Many manufacturers still rely on paper-based systems and human-driven decision-making processes, which can lead to inconsistent decision-making and inefficiencies. AddQual provides the structured metrology data necessary for thorough CI investigations, enabling manufacturers to identify and rectify issues quickly and effectively." The company systematically captures detailed metrology data using advanced 3D structured light metrology techniques and other metrology systems such as CMMs, callipers, micrometres and hand gauges within its NADCAP-accredited processes, ensuring the data is trustworthy.
The fragmentation of data across different systems exacerbates these challenges. Information stored in isolated formats hinders integration and necessitates manual interpretation, slowing down decision-making and increasing the risk of human error. AddQual's approach directly confronts this issue by providing a platform for traceable, structured data , transforming raw measurement data into structured insights that empower manufacturers to make faster and more confident decisions.
"Our fundamental aim," Anderson concludes, "is to automate the decision-making process in quality control. By providing structured insights that instantly classify parts, we remove variability and enable manufacturers to react in real-time. AddQual exists to help companies move beyond simply collecting numbers and start leveraging structured metrology to drive automation, process improvement, and ultimately, safer and more reliable products." By focusing on structured metrology and autonomous inspection, AddQual positions itself as a vital partner for manufacturers striving for efficiency, accuracy, and compliance in an increasingly demanding landscape.