As seen in CNC-West February/March 2009 issue

Joel Gasca at the computer and Angel Diaz use and set up an API laser tracker and Verisurf software to inspect the geometrical con-fi guration of an aircraft skin subassembly before it is sent to fi nal assembly. Vought Aircraft currently operates 14 seats of Verisurf and is involved in training 10 QA employees to set up and operate the portable Verisurf system.

Graphic QA

When It Comes to QA, Vought

Aircraft Discovers a Picture is Worth

Thousands of Dollars in Savings.

story and photos

by C. H. Bush, editor

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but in

the quality assurance department at Hawthorne, CA’s

Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc., pictures have proven

to be worth, not just words, but thousands of dollars in time

and cost savings, too.

“We build some really big products, up to 60-feet in

length, for some of the biggest names in the aerospace in-

dustry,” says Paul Evans, quality assurance lead and 34-year

veteran at the company’s Hawthorne division. “We offer a

full range of aerostructure fabrication and assembly capabili-

ties to design and manufacture things like fuselage panels,

empennage and fl ight control surfaces, nacelles, wings and

doors. In a nutshell, we’re a tier 1 subcontractor to com-

panies like Boeing, Airbus, Gulfstream, Lockheed Martin,

Sikorsky, Northrop Grumman, Bell Helicopter, Cessna and

Embraer. As a result, everything we build has to meet strin-

gent engineering specifi cations. But beyond that, we’re re-

quired to prove that we meet those customer specs. We’ve

always met that challenge, but it hasn’t always been easy.”

Hierarchy of ChecksMost of the products built at Vought are manufactured

in sections that are assembled on complex holding fi xtures

designed to assure dimensional accuracy. Many of the

completed products are then shipped to the customers on

oversized rail cars.

“Because our products are so large, we inspect every-

As seen in CNC-West February/March 2009 issue

thing in stages,” says quality engineer Angel Diaz, a 23-year

Vought veteran. “We can’t wait until assemblies are com-

plete to check them. If we did that, we could fi nd that major

dimensional errors have accumulated, which, of course, is

not acceptable to us or our customers.”

“The only sensible way to handle inspection of such

large assemblies is to do it in sections as they’re built,” adds

Evans, “what Boeing calls ‘a hierarchy of checks.’ So, we

build a detail part, and that has one level of inspection. Then

we might do some machining, which requires NC probing

to check. Or we build things on a Cincinnati Pogobed gan-

try mill. We check that work. There’s a stringer drill cell,

and another layer of engineering. Then all of the many sub-

processes get put together into smaller assemblies, requiring

further checks. Finally, it all comes together as a complete

assembly on a large holding fi xture, which is where our laser

checking systems come into play.”

“Most of our specifi cations come to us via Catia solid

models,” says Joel Gasca, the newest quality engineer in the

department. “They have local and aircraft coordinates, but

we strip those down and give the product it’s own reference

system to speed up the inspection and analysis. On these

structures our average tolerance is plus or minus thirty thou-

sandths, which doesn’t sound like much, until you realize

you’re dealing with structures up to 60 feet long.”

“To make things worse,” says Evans, “we have to achieve

those tolerances in changing temperature conditions, which

can cause some pretty wild thermal expansion and contrac-

tion. Still, our engineers have always found a way to beat that

problem and deliver products that are in spec.”

Reporting Diffi cultiesFor years Vought has used a combination of laser systems

and portable CMMs to measure it large products. The laser

systems are used to measure the large structures, and Romer

portable CMMs are used for constructions that can be mea-

sured with a 6’ long arm. But even with those tools hooked

up to computers, analyzing the results and providing feed-

back to the production department, vendors and customers

was at best a very diffi cult process.

“Think of it this way,” Evans explains. “We’re dealing

with large sheet metal assemblies, which are very fl exible.

In the past we would take a measurement, then come back

and analyze it on a desktop computer with a couple of dif-

ferent software packages. Then we would see that the prod-

uct was out of spec and needed to be twisted this way or

that to bring it into alignment. We might have to do several

iterations like that before we got it right. It was a very time-

consuming process.”

“Sometimes it was tough to convince the production, or

vendors or customers we were right,” says Diaz, “mainly

because all we had to show them as ‘proof’ were a bunch of

numbers on spread sheets. We really needed something that

graphically illustrated the results of our analysis.”

A Picture is Worth a Thousand

Numbers“That situation changed signifi cantly in 2007 when our

Hawthorne side decided across the board to switch over to

Verisurf software to run our portable CMMs,” Evans says.

“We evaluated several analysis software packages, and de-

cided Verisurf was best suited for our needs.”

Senior Measurement Engineer Joel Gasca says, “Veri-

surf is a very powerful software package. It resides within

Mastercam and uses all the power of Mastercam’s design

module. The whole system comes on a disk and installs on

a computer as easily as Microsoft Offi ce. Our computers are

already connected to the lasers and the Romer arms, and

since Verisurf recognizes most of the portable CMMs out

there, it was ready immediately to go to work with our sys-

tems.”

Before joining Vought, Gasca worked for a company that

was using Verisurf.

“I used to call Ernie Husted, the president and inventor

of Verisurf, and ask him to let me play with the software on

the weekends to learn how to use it,” he says. “Then when

I came here and saw what they were going through, I knew

they would love Verisurf, fi rst because it’s easy to use, and

second, because they could get feedback instantly. No more

running back and forth. We’ve had good service from Jim

Edwards, the Verisurf representative ever since.”

Angel Diaz, right, and Joel Gasca set up a Verisurf workstation in preparation for inspecting a skin assembly.

Paul Evans, left, Angel Diaz, middle, and Joel Gasca, discuss a setup needed to inspect a series of parts using a

Romer portable CMM and Verisurf software.

As seen in CNC-West February/March 2009 issue

Once Vought saw what the software package could do for

their efforts, they didn’t go halfway.

“Today we have fourteen seats around the plant,” Evans

says. “We’re in a major model change right now, going from

what was called the 747-400 series aircraft to what they now

call the 747-8. This plane is going to be 220 inches longer

than the previous version and will carry 455 passengers. It’s

a big shift for us, and we bought the Verisurf packages to

prepare for the ramp up.”

Advantages of VerisurfThe biggest advantage of the software comes from it’s

graphics capability and it’s ability to yield instant answers,

according to Angel Diaz.

“The software is great at collecting all the data we need,”

he says, “but in the past we had to take that data back to a

desktop system, analyze on two different software packages,

and then all we got was a spreadsheet with a lot of numbers.

With Verisurf, we set up our lasers or our Romers, take our

measurements, and we get on the spot analysis. The software

compares the real product against the solid model residing

in Mastercam and gives us an instant and graphical error re-

port. It calls out the errors in little boxes and draws arrows

pointing to the error location. Now we can send a graphic to

our customers or our vendors or production and show them

exactly where the error is. Where production used to groan

when they saw us coming with our lasers, now they’re com-

ing to us, wanting us to check things for them before they go

too far. Verisurf has allowed us to become much more graph-

ics capable then we ever were.”

“We’re now able to measure the product as it’s being

built,” adds Gasca. “Previously we didn’t have that capabil-

ity. All we could do was collect data and then go into some

other room to analyze it. Now we’re able to take Verisurf

down to the fl oor, call over the engineers and mechanics and

show them exactly what’s wrong. They love it, because the

longer an error goes before its found, the harder it is to fi x.”

“I guess the bottom line for our department is that it used

to take us sixteen hours to do an inspection on a large assem-

bly, eight hours inspecting and another eight on the report.

Now we can do the same job in six hours or less.”

Learning CurveMuch like shops that have setup people and machine op-

erators, Vought has Verisurf setup people and operators.

“We fi nd that Verisurf is very easy to learn and use, but

to get the most out of it, it helps to have some knowledge

about the Mastercam design software,” Evans says. “That’s

because you’re importing solid models into Mastercam and

using Verisurf to compare the real product against the model.

At present, in preparation for the 747-8 push, we’re training

ten more people to setup and run Verisurf.”

And Evan’s bottom line on the software?

“When it come to communicating with our customers, a

Verisurf picture is worth a thousands words,” he says. “Even

better, it’s worth thousands of dollars to Vought.”

Quality engineer, Angel Diaz. uses a Romer arm and a laptop Verisurf installation to check a part.