As I have done a few days ago in the article about the checking fixture for bumper lateral grille, you will find bellow the transcription of my comments of this video.

Hello again, I’m Gladys Becerra, Tecnomatrix export manager. Today we’ll see together a gauge for an armrest. The main difficulty in this type of part is the number of clips it has.

0:20: To fasten the part, we have simulated its fixation on the door. This gauge checks the plastic part after the injection process, as well as the finished part covered with foam and the car interior lining.

0:35: On the plastic part, we check the mountability, length and shape. This is to ensure that the basic part is correct before dressing it with the final interior lining.

0:45: On the finished part, we check the shape, and simulate the position of the grabhandle. This is to make sure that the part will fit on the door assembly.

0:58: Each RPS point enables to fasten one of the clips. To make the mounting of the part easier, we have adapted the clamps on rotating systems, so that you can turn back the clamps in a simple and quick way.

1:13: To mount the part, fasten first the main RPS. Then, use the square to turn the gauge back and check that all the clips have entered correctly.

1:36: Here is a section showing you how the clips of the part are fastened on the gauge. You can see clearly how the part clips on the RPS.

1:52: The lower side of the base plate is used to store the removable elements of the gauge, such as the checking blocks for the final part, the pin checking the position of the holes of the part, and the dial indicator. As you can see, the blocks are simply screwed on the base plate.

2:10: Let’s go back to the checking of the plastic part. We’ll use removable sections to check the shape of the part. In order to identify quickly where each section should be mounted, we have painted the base plate and the section. Each section can only be mounted in one position, to avoid any risk of mistake.

2:30: There is a constant gap of 5mm between the part and the section, to check the gap with a Go/No Go gauge.

2:40: Finally, we’ll check the length of the plastic part with the dial indicator. The dial indicator bushing is located on one of the removable blocks used to check the shape of the final part, in order to save space.

3:18: Now that we’ve seen how to check the plastic part, we’ll check the final part. If you remember, we’ll check the shape of the outline of the part, and check if the hole of the grabhandle is correctly positioned.

3:53: Thank you for your attention. Feel free to visit our website for more information, that’s www.tecnomatrix.com.

You will find bellow the transcription of the comments of this video of a checking fixture we made for a bumper lateral grille.

Hi, I’m Gladys Becerra, Tecnomatrix export manager. Today, I will present you one of our latest gauges for plastic grilles.

This gauge checks the essential features a plastic part should comply with: its mountability, shape, length and deviation of surfaces.

(0:30) What’s really interesting about this gauge is how we’ve designed it: the checking blocks are mounted on sliding rails to mount the part more easily on the gauge. We’ve reproduced the clipping system of the part to check its mountability, as you can see now.

(0:49) Here is a section where you will be able to see how the part is fastened and clipped on the checking fixture.

(1:20) Ok, here we go with the real gauge. By mounting the part on the fixed blocks, I am fastening the part in X and Y… and I am removing now the pins locking the sliding blocks, and I set them against the part to block it in Z.

(1:45) Now that we’ve checked that the part has a good mountability, we’ll check its shape. The sliding blocks can be mounted in two positions: with a gap of 3mm, which is what is displayed now, or at its nominal.

To do so, you have two fixation positions on the sliding blocks to go from the nominal to the gap of 3 on two sides of the part.

After that, we’ll check if the upper surface of the part is OK thanks to this dial indicator. We’ll check the surface on three points, as I’m indicating now.

The dial indicator displays the deviation of the upper surface which will enable to check if this deviation is within the manufacturing tolerances of your part.

Then, we will set to zero the dial indicator with a flat probe, to check the length of the part.

We use a flat probe to make sure that we’ll touch a single point on the rounded surfaces of the extremities of the part.

This is essential to check correctly the length of the part. Here again, as this part has a triangle shape, we check three points.

Depending on the tolerance of the part, and on the deviations displayed by the indicator, we’ll know if the part is OK, too short, or too long.

Once we’ve finished to check the part, we slide back the rails and remove the part.

Thank you for your attention, and I’ll see for the next video.

Of course, you can always buy for less. But it is not part of our strategy to fight for the constant reduction of prices, even though in some occasions we have to adapt ourselves to the situation of the market. We bet on adding more value than our competitors. Thanks to this strategy, we make sure that the notoriety, preference and loyalty that Tecnomatrix brings about will ensure us our future development, by getting the necessary resources, keeping the talent of the best people and being able to continue to innovate on our service or our product.

Our finishings with hard anodizing, for example, are an extra cost largely compensated by the advantages provided by the product: a longer useful life, a higher reliability, less maintenance, a better image, and so on. A well-studied and detailed design enables to avoid many future problems. A project management system helps to have the information well organised, in a clear way, and enables to carry out the same work in fewer hours and with less stress, because all the participants are perfectly informed on time. A planning of resources makes that everything is delivered on due time, without any delays triggering extra costs. Moreover, the constant research of new products gives us the opportunity to offer our customers automated solutions, enabling them to work faster and with more reliability for data collection or their further processing.

It is known that the companies taking care of their brands are the main ones dynamizing the society, the most competitive ones, the ones getting a higher rate of exports, with more stability and the ones that can mainly afford to look for solutions to take care of the environment. They are also the ones providing the best working conditions, as for wages, working hours, and balance between work and family. On a long term, all this ends up having repercussions on the cost of the final product, and consequently on “more value for our customer”.

Some people define private labels as symbols of money savings, but I disagree with this false appearance. I disagree with all the purchasers that only look for the cheapest, without listening to what each of their suppliers can offer them. Socially, there is a responsibility that we cannot avoid toward companies that do their work correctly and fight for positioning their brand. If you only look for the cheapest, you will be contributing to the reduction of the resources that we, brands, need to face successfully our competitors on the global market. Making sure that brands continue to exist is the responsibility of all.

It is important, however, to determine which type of information the Newsletter should contain in order to be interesting for the people receiving it, be them customers, potential customers, or partners of the company.

To know it, we have made a small poll, so that all of you can give your opinion on that matter.

Here is the link to the poll:

The following article translates the interview published in www.anella.cat, the information portal of Acc10, one of the organisms of Catalonia managing international promotion activities for Catalan companies.

In Tecnomatrix, controlling “measures” is at the core of the business. The company, headquartered at Lliçà de Vall (near Barcelona) , has been producing since 1998 dimensional checking fixtures, that is, tools to check that the parts mounted in cars are neither too small nor too big, and that they are not deformed. A market niche with a potential that made the company grow 30% per year over the past three years. A rythm that Xavier Conesa hopes to keep up with, in spite of the crisis. His secret: “innovating in the process, in the product and never stop”.

Main ideas:

Checking fixtures represent a growing market niche. They are tools enabling car manufacturers to save money by ensuring the dimensions of the parts they have to use. Even more so when the production has to be subcontracted to low cost countries.

TICs are useful to promote your product and improve the communication with your customers. In the automotive sector, some of them even prefer to pay a higher price for the product if it ensures them that they will really get what they are looking for.

In order to cope with the crisis, it is important to “innovate in the process, in the product and never stop”. It is good to be active through Internet but, at the same time, to understand that you cannot expect results on the day after having gotten a contact. To get them, you have to be generous and give before being given.

Key words:

Tecnomatrix, tool, control, quality, automotive, community

How important is the dimensional control in the car manufacturing chain?

In the automotive sector, all parts must be manufactured with some specific dimensions because, if they do not, they cannot be mounted where they should be. The deviation tolerance is getting lower and lower because more elements are to be mounted in the same space, and because the weight of cars has to be reduced. What we do at Tecnomatrix is designing a tool for each part, in order to check if it has been produced correctly. As a matter of fact, the contracts between car manufacturers and parts suppliers specify the maximum number of defects a series of parts can have. If the customer detects a higher number than the one established, costs rocket. The company using checking fixtures saves time and money in the process.

And in which part of the process is it better to put checking fixtures? Who should pay them?

Several years ago, they used to be paid by the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), that is, the car manufacturer. Now, most of the time they are paid by the suppliers of sub-assemblies, such as doors. In the sector they are called TIER1. They are also used by TIER2, who only supply the metal or the glass parts of the interior panel of the door. But finally, the OEM ends up paying them in some way, because this cost has an impact on the price of the part. Tecnomatrix can supply as much OEMs as TIER1s and TIER2s. We can do checking fixtures for a single part, or for a gear lever assembly, that has more than 100 assembled elements.

How did Tecnomatrix enter in this market niche after having produced switches and moulds for glass bottles?

Yes, my grandfather used to have his own brand of switches… then we produced moulds for glass bottles and stamping matrixes, and in the last decade, we have specialised in checking fixtures. It is an interesting market niche for us, because even if parts are manufactured in low cost countries, the manufacturers or the companies subcontracting to India or China need to make sure that the parts are correct. What is more, developping checking fixtures there is not cheap in the end.

How did you consider selling on the international market a product that was not profitable when produced in low cost countries?

Actually, this has been one of the obstacles we have had to deal with. We have managed to overcome it thanks to Internet. We have a working method through Internet that simplifies a lot the communication with our customers during the design process, which is the slowest and the most complex. We have a portal, called TecnoNet, that is beginning to be profitable for our customers, whether they are in Russia or in Mexico. We offer them transparency, and they even prefer to pay a little more if it ensures them that will have what they have ordered. We work a lot for Italy, and are opening market in China, Venezuela, Mexico, Russia, Poland, Czech Republich and France… We are also trying to begin to work with South Africa, where there are business opportunities.

Experts say that China will become a powerful competitor, not only because of their prices but also because of their quality…

Yes, they will manage to copy quality. This is why we have to innovate in our manufacturing methods and in our type of product by integrating, for example, artificial vision, that will help having an even more accurate checking process. Our working methods are based on a lot of innovation in the process and the product, and in never stopping.

TICs have helped you a lot to promote your offer… You belong to the Anella Automotive Community. Which advantages does this community have, in your opinion?

Getting to know people is always an advantage, even though orders are beginning to arrive only at the second or third level of your contacts. You have to understand well that before getting anything back, you have to offer something. You have to be very generous, which is very difficult because we all think only about what we want to get, and believe that we will get results on the day after having met a new contact. Annella is an innovative platform. It is positive to have such a tool available, we should take advantage of it.

Taking advantage of Internet is something to work on…

It is a question of culture and predisposition. If you do not understand what Internet is for and the advantages you can have from it, you will not get anything. You have to spend some time for it every day.

Is it the key to your growth in spite of the crisis?

We have had a 30% growth per year for three years, which is a lot. This year, our forecasts indicate a stabilisation. If our sales decrease, it will be of 5% to 10%. In these times of crisis, being able to maintain our level of sales is very positive, considering the structure we have. We are 20 workers. A lot of what we manage to get comes from our internationalization, and of the fact that we are very active on a business point of view. We use a lot online social networks. We study which community is the most popular for each country and try to contact the engineers that interest us in each company. Thanks to this, our number of orders has not decreased. The situation is complicated, but we are optimistic because this crisis, like all the others, will finish, and the companies remaining will be stronger.

This is a simple question with a complicated answer. There have been various tendencies over time, and they have been changing according to the point of view established by OEMs.

At the beginning, checking fixtures used to be designed and manufactured by OEMs. They were the ones who began to impose their use. Later on, with the transfer of responsibilities on the scale of value to TIER1 and TIER2, the latter where the ones in charge of designing and manufacturing checking fixtures with their own production process. In some cases, depending on the global negotiation with the OEM, checking fixtures could be the property, in some cases, of the OEM, and in other cases, of the supplier.

Lately, this situation is changing again, because OEMs have realised the importance of quality and dimensional control in the production process. The investments in dimensional controls are the first ones in suffering cuts when budgets are adjusted, and all the critical points are not always checked as they should be. OEMs are seing now that cutting down costs for checking means multiplicates non-quality costs exponentially, and this must end up in higher costs for them, in some way.

We have seen two tendencies:

• a) in the first one, OEMs give the final responsibility to their part suppliers, but actively participate in the design of the checking fixtures and, once their manufacturing is over, are in charge of checking and validating their functionnality, repeatability, etc. In that case, although the TIER1 takes on the responsibility for the checking fixtures, the OEM has a detailed knowledge of their quality, and of the checking fixtures supplier market (names, quality offered, seriousness…)
• b) in the second one, OEM take on their initial function of designing and manufacturing checking fixtures, in order to give/impose them to their suppliers, later. Some of them are creating specific departments to deal with all these tasks.

Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages, but are in all cases better than when OEM did not want to deal with this issue at all. There have been quite a lot of occasions when checking fixtures were not produced in the end, or were so basic that they could not be called checking fixtures, in spite of the fact that the OEM had paid them as requested, and at a high price. It is obvious that a product that has to go through all the chain of value will go more and more expensive at each step. This shows the advantage for the OEM to purchase directly checking fixtures. Moreover, if we want, for example, to get some traceability for the use of checking fixtures, it will be difficult to have the suppliers risk to reveal their own faults by improving their checking systems. Even though doing an intensive check of parts can only, in my opinion, improve the situation of the suppliers, reduce modifications costs, scraps, etc, and give them an advantage on their competition, it seems that for some TIER1 this would only give them more problems.

In many occasions, when we propose to a TIER1 an automation for a checking fixture in order to check more quickly, improve the reliability and repeatability of the checking fixture, etc., he automatically goes to his customer OEM to give him our economic proposal, and have him take the responsibility of the investment. This is a huge mistake, since the TIER1 is the first one who will benefit from the investment, whether the OEM wants to bear the investment or not. The TIER1 is the first one who will gain something, but most of the proposal we do end up being refused by the TIER1, with the excuse that the OEM is the one who does not want to take on the investment.

The debate has been started. What do our readers think about it?

This last article will be about the car interior linings, including the complete dashboard and the door linings.

We look forward to read your comments about these articles, suggestions of parts I have not talked about are also welcome

Note: If you cannot see well the picture legends, just click right, “See picture”.

Related articles:

• A few words of vocabulary…Part I: Car Front Panel
• A few words of vocabulary…Part II: Car Lateral Panel
• A few words of vocabulary…Part III: Seats

A few weeks ago, we have seen the bodyside front and rear parts

Today, we will begin to see the interior parts of a car, with the vocabulary related to the front and rear seats.

Note: If you cannot see well the picture legends, just click right, “See picture”.

Related articles:

• A few words of vocabulary…Part I: Car Front Panel
• A few words of vocabulary… Part II: Car Lateral Panel

Today, we will see the different parts belonging to the lateral and rear panels of a car..

Note: If you cannot see well the picture legends, just click right, “See picture”.

Related article: A few words of vocabulary…Part I: Car Front Panel

You will find bellow the translation of each term, with its gender in brackets: “M” for masculine, “F” for feminine, “N” for neutral (in German).

Today we are going to see the vocabulary for the body-side parts of the car front panel.

Note: If you cannot see well the picture legends, just click right, “See picture”.