"Thanks to the WM | Quartis software, the coordinate measuring machines from WENZEL are very easy and intuitive to operate. We can probe points directly on the CAD model. We benefit from this not only when creating the measuring program, but also in our daily work."
Measuring internally makes us more flexible and gives us advantages when developing new products," says Martin Przibilla, Head of Quality at Vorwerk's Wuppertal plant. The family-owned company, which has always relied on direct sales of its products, is best known for its Kobold brand vacuum cleaners and attachments as well as its Thermomix kitchen machines. In the company's own global network of plants with locations in Wuppertal, Cloyes-les-Trois-Rivières/France and Shanghai/China, production is carried out according to uniform specifications and strict quality standards. "All plants are autonomous and control themselves, but there is a close exchange - also in quality assurance," explains Przibilla. For example, the quality assurance department in Wuppertal also performs measuring tasks for the Thermomix plant in France as an internal service provider.
The Quality Assurance department at the Wuppertal plant consists of three teams: Quality Planning, which starts early in development projects; Quality Assurance for series production; and the measuring room with five employees. Przibilla has headed the department since 2016, and since 2019 the measuring room has also been part of his remit. "It struck me at the time that we had a lot of unused potential in the measuring room," he recalls. "We have a very large staff expertise in the metrology. At the time, the measuring room supported the development area to some extent, and it also performed some measurements during series production. But the bottom line was that the coordinate measuring machines had too much idle time - which was also partly due to the fact that they were not technically optimal. Creating the measurement programs ran in software that was no longer up to date and took a very long time because every single movement of the coordinate measuring machine had to be written in source code."
At the time, the development project for the new VK7 cordless cleaning system had a great need for metrological tasks. "This was the hook for us to reorganize ourselves in quality assurance and to raise the measuring room to a new level, so that we can measure much more internally than in the past. So we wanted to increase internal utilization and our vertical range of manufacture," says Przibilla.
At the time, the development project for the new VK7 wireless cleaning system had a great need for metrological tasks: With this product, they wanted to increase the number of plastic parts produced in the injection molding production in Wuppertal by a factor of about 10. "This was the hook for us to reorganize in quality assurance and to raise the measuring room to a new level, so that we can measure much more internally than in the past. So we wanted to increase the internal capacity utilization and the vertical range of manufacture," says Przibilla.
He sought support for this project from Klostermann GmbH, which has already been working for Vorwerk for around 15 years - as a contract measuring service provider, but also as a supplier and service provider for measuring machines. Klostermann has also created measuring programs for Vorwerk; including clamping systems from Witte.
Klostermann recommended that Vorwerk gradually replace the existing coordinate measuring machines with LH 87 gantry measuring machines from WENZEL . Klostermann: "In the high-end sector, the hardware of coordinate measuring machines does not differ significantly from one another. What makes the difference today is the measuring software - and with WM Quartis, the measuring software from WENZEL, this is very easy to use," explains Christian Klostermann, Managing Director of the family-owned company based in Remscheid. At Przibilla, he was preaching to the choir: "We had an ultra-high-precision coordinate measuring machine. We could use it to measure gauges, but we don't need that at all. It's not the micrometer that matters in our measuring tasks; we mainly measure in the hundredths of a millimeter range."
The difference to the measuring software of the existing coordinate measuring machines became apparent right after Vorwerk put the first LH 87 from WENZEL into operation. "Thanks to the WM Quartis software, the coordinate measuring machines from WENZEL are very easy and intuitive to operate, which has really proven its worth. Today we don't have to type in source code, we just click buttons. We can probe points directly on the CAD model. We benefit from this not only when creating measuring programs, but also in our daily work," says Przibilla.
With the new coordinate measuring machines, Vorwerk now also measures components for Kobold and Thermomix against the CAD model. This also enables the company to evaluate free-form surfaces. Fast and easy alignment against CAD data is made possible by the Reference Point System (RPS), which WM supports Quartis . "The data set-based probing of elements is of course also much faster today," says Przibilla.
He can precisely quantify the advantages: "At WM Quartis , my employees can now create measuring programs much faster - in 20 percent of the time it used to take them. As a result, we were able to program all the measuring programs for the components of the new VK7 ourselves. This saves time in the creation of measuring programs, but also costs - around 40 percent. The bottom line is that it has made us much more flexible."
Przibilla also received this positive feedback back from internal customers during the development of the new Kobold VK7 vacuum cleaner, which was launched on the German market in October 2022: "Those responsible for the project praised us for making the measurement data available more quickly and also for the fact that it is more meaningful than before because we can display the measurement reports more clearly with WM Quartis - and in direct comparison with the CAD data. This means that project staff can see at a glance where there are dimensional deviations in form and position tolerances, for example, on the basis of the colored display."
Vorwerk now has three WENZEL coordinate measuring machines in operation in the measuring room. Just under two years passed between the delivery of the first and the third machine, as demand had increased due to the positive development of the Vorwerk Group's direct sales. All three WENZEL measuring machines are equipped with Renishaw 's PH10M/SP25M probe system for 2D and 3D scanning. Compared to the previous solution, this probe head can be swivelled, enabling probing also from the side. The SP25 also ensures very high scanning speeds and high point rates.
"We could, of course, also use optical sensors and thus multisensor technology on the WENZEL measuring machines, but for us tactile and optical metrology continue to be two different worlds with their own strengths and weaknesses," says Przibilla.
He sees further advantages in the fact that Vorwerk can now more easily exchange measuring programs with Klostermann - for example, in order to outsource contract measuring tasks to the Remscheid-based company during resource peaks. Klostermann also measures the components on an LH 87, allowing both companies to access a database and even exchange fixtures. "In the end, it was this overall package from Klostermann that convinced our management to make the new investment. The new coordinate measuring machines make us much more flexible - and Klostermann can cushion order peaks for us even better."
"Of course, we see the development at Vorwerk with one laughing eye and one crying eye," says Klostermann. "On the one hand, we are now no longer commissioned by Vorwerk with as many contract measuring services as in the past. But on the other hand, with the coordinate measuring machines from WENZEL , we have helped Vorwerk to deepen its own value chain and become more flexible. And these strategic advantages for the customer outweigh the disadvantages at the end of the day." Przibilla adds, "Today, we process ten times more components in the measuring room. The utilization of the machines has thus increased significantly. We have thus achieved the strategic goal of measuring as much as possible ourselves." Measurements during series production to safeguard manufacturing processes are also easier today with the coordinate measuring machines, since the measurement data can be compared with the CAD data records.
Another figure shows that the tandem with Klostermann works well: Vorwerk created 35 of the 40 new measuring programs for the WENZEL machines itself, while Klostermann took over the rest. "The exchange of measuring programs and resources between employees and Klostermann works extremely well," emphasizes Przibilla.
Service and support for the coordinate measuring machines have also improved significantly for Vorwerk: This concerns the further development of the measuring software, but also the service provided by Klostermann. "The machine projects also include so-called consulting days at Vorwerk, which make it easy for the customer to access our support and knowledge within a short response time," says Klostermann.
"Klostermann's advice is very valuable for us overall," says Przibilla. For example, the measurement service provider and Vorwerk jointly developed the idea of replacing the clamping fixtures that had been milled from solid in the past with Witte's modular clamping systems. "Although the investment was cost-intensive, it paid off very quickly thanks to the retooling options, i.e. the reuse of system components from fixtures that are no longer needed, starting with the second project," Przibilla is pleased to report. Klostermann has also trained employees from Przibilla's department on the new WENZEL machines.
"In the near future, we now want to make the work within the department even more flexible, so that the boundaries between development and series measurements will be further dissolved. This will further increase efficiency in quality assurance," says Przibilla. And further tasks are already in sight for his team: Vorwerk will invest in the construction of an additional Thermomix production facility in France in order to meet the rapidly growing demand for Thermomix.
Vorwerk is a family-owned company founded in 1883. In addition to the Thermomix kitchen machines and the Kobold vacuum cleaners, the company includes Neato Robotics and the AKF Bank. Vorwerk is active in more than 60 countries and generated consolidated sales of 3.3 billion euros in 2021. The Thermomix Division's sales amounted to 1.7 billion euros in 2021, the year of its 50th anniversary. The Group's largest production site is Wuppertal, Germany, with more than 1,000 employees.
All three WENZEL measuring machines at Vorwerk are equipped with the SP25M probe system from Renishaw for 2D and 3D scanning. Here, a visible part for the current Thermomix is measured with it
Martin Przibilla, Head of Quality at the Wuppertal plant: "Ultimately, it was Klostermann's overall package that convinced our management to make the new investment. The new coordinate measuring machines make us much more flexible - and Klostermann can cushion order peaks even better for us."
Tim Fischer, Team Leader metrology at Vorwerk (left), and Klostermann boss Christian Klostermann in front of one of the three new LH 87 coordinate measuring machines from WENZEL: With them, Vorwerk has significantly increased throughput in the measuring room.
The WM Quartis user-friendly measurement software allows metrologists to create measurement programs in 20% of the time it used to take with the old coordinate measuring machines.
Thanks to the new VK7 cordless cleaning system, the number of plastic parts produced and thus also measured in injection molding production at Vorwerk in Wuppertal has increased by a factor of about 10.
Vorwerk now carries out significantly more measuring tasks at its Wuppertal plant than in the past. This is made possible by coordinate measuring machines from WENZEL, which can be used to quickly create measurement programs, and measurement service provider Klostermann, which provides support with contract measurements for WENZEL-machines .
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