The Use of 3D Laser Scanners in Statistical Process Control

The emphasis placed on statistical process control over the past few decades has significantly aided manufacturers in measuring and monitoring dimensional parameters of production parts, and inferring process behavior from control charting. However, current manufacturing quality control methods fail to incorporate technologically innovative measurement solutions and rely on traditional coordinate measuring machines and laser point measurements. Based on the current trend, three-dimensional laser scanning seems to be the future of manufacturing measurement systems, and has already achieved considerable success in providing one-to-one comparisons between as-built products and original computer aided design (CAD) models via point cloud measurements. However, these methods only provide product-by-product information, and fail to provide any information on the state of the manufacturing process. This paper presents a method for using point cloud data attained from these scanners towards statistical process control (SPC), specifically in monitoring complex surface geometries seen in manufactured parts. In addition, research and application opportunities are highlighted for using this novel technology in statistical process control.