Control – a Firm Date in the Trade Fair Calendar!

Presenting products and solutions, taking advantage of strong internationalisation, establishing new contacts – Control is also a firm date in the trade fair calendar for OGP Messtechnik from Hofheim-Wallau in Germany. The Control team spoke with OGP’s managing director Karl Jürgen Lenz about the trade fair and current trends in the fields of measuring technology and quality assurance.

KJL: As the global market leader in the field of optical multi-sensor measuring technology, Control provides us with the opportunity of efficiently presenting our products and software solutions to a wide-ranging audience. In addition to our German contacts, increasing internationalisation is also apparent, which means that we’ve also been able to personally contact customers from other European countries at the event to date.

KJL: CONTROL makes it possible for us to engage in numerous discussions with existing customers within a short period of time – and with a reasonable amount of effort – and to establish new contacts for state-of-the-art solutions in optical metrology. Control has been a constant feature in our trade fair calendar for many years – we hope to see large numbers of visitors in 2024.

KJL: The trend towards multi-sensor technology continues to gather momentum. We delivered the first multi-sensor measuring system to a customer in 1986: a table-top unit with camera, probe and laser. We’re now able to make use of four different laser sensors: white light sensors for contactless roughness measurements and various probe systems (touch trigger probe, measuring probe, spring probe). Single and 2-axis rotary tables round out the versatility. Our customers require faster and more comprehensive measurements, as well as the ability to combine several 3D measuring operations at a single measuring instrument.

The second trend is clearly focused on software simplicity. Our ZONE 3 software solution is the most modern and powerful tool on the market. All sensors are seamlessly integrated into the software and all (!) common shape and position tolerance analyses are fully compliant with current ISO and ASME standards. Our SmartSCS module offers state-of-the-art management software with unprecedented performance and a user interface that makes it easy to start complex measuring programmes, even at the operator level – with connectivity to barcode scanners, the ability to interpret QR codes on safety-relevant components using the measuring camera, pallets and robot management. And, with more than 15 years of experience, everything can be supplied FDA-compliant upon request.
In just under 18 months, we’ve developed SmartSCS to the point where it can also be installed to third-party products from our market competitors, making it possible to run a single user interface for various measuring instruments in the lab.

KJL: In addition to the latest version of SmartSCS, we’ll also be presenting our E7 systems, the most recent development in video measurement technology, as well as the ShapeGrabber – a new device for 3D digitalisation of larger components. And of course we’ll also have a mid-sized multi-sensor measuring instrument on board again as well.

KJL: Alone the option of replacing several measuring instruments with a single multi-sensor device minimises the total number of machines required in the measuring room. Efficiency can also be increased by combining several measuring processes at a single measuring instrument. The speed at which contactless measurements are performed makes it possible to measure larger samples in less time than ever before.

For many years now, our measuring instruments have been equipped with energy-saving controllers and efficient power supply units in order to reduce energy consumption. The most important statement in this regard is undoubtedly that our systems are stable in the long term. It’s not unusual for customers to use OGP measuring instruments for more than 20 years – a fact that demonstrates outstanding sustainability.