PC-DMIS IP makes paperless inspection a reality. The process of getting design intent from the CAD system to inspection devices used to be cumbersome, slow and rife with error. Design engineers would manually mark up part drawings. Then they would count on inspectors to interpret the notations and enter the correct parameters into their inspection software. PC-DMIS Inspection Planner ends this. Now, designers annotate their drawings electronically and these notations become part of their CAD models. It is truly a paperless process and users enjoy the benefits.

PC-DMIS IP automatically builds inspection programs. IP Measure, the PC-DMIS resident module, interprets CAD-created Inspection Plans. In doing so, it determines what features it has to measure and how to measure them. Once done with those tasks, it establishes the relationships among features, applies the appropriate tolerances and generates a report template. Last but not least, it creates the moves necessary to position the probe as it measures the part. Jobs that once took days to program now take minutes.

PC-DMIS IP optimizes measurement sequences. Measurement software vendors have pursued the idea of probe path optimization for a long time. The possibility of being able to remove the inefficiencies from a probing sequence without having to go though a long and painful editing sessions has always been attractive. With the advent of IP Planner, it became a necessity. Requiring designers to worry about the most efficient way to measure a part as they developed an Inspection Plan was not feasible. So, Wilcox Associates developed a Probe Path Optimizer. Once IP Measure has turned a plan into a program, the user can remove its inefficiencies with a single mouse click.

PC-DMIS IP helps eliminate version control problems. Using this software along with a Direct CAD Interface (DCI) can eliminate most if not all of the version control problems that have bedeviled inspection operations for years. With a DCI in place, the measurement software “knows” when a CAD model and its associated Inspection Plan have changed. When this happens, IP Measure notifies the operator and offers the option of either using the existing measurement program or generating a new one. No longer do manufacturers have to worry about building a product to one design and measuring it to another. PC-DMIS Inspection Planner seamlessly closes the loop between design and inspection.