In the Hotseat: Metrology Manager Hazel Rooney

October 2, 2019

In the Hotseat: Metrology Manager Hazel Rooney

October 2, 2019

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Interview with Metrology Manager Hazel Rooney on women in engineering

It doesn’t take much research to find concern in the engineering sector about the underrepresentation of women. However, there are many initiatives aimed at changing this by encouraging more girls and young women to consider engineering as a career. Senior women in the engineering sector also regularly take the opportunity to explain what working as an engineer is really like, and why it’s a good career to pursue.

In the AMTC hotseat this month, were one of those senior women – Hazel Rooney. Hazel is our Metrology Manager here at Verus. During the hotseat, Hazel was asked questions about her job, her views on women in engineering, and how she sees the MedTech industry developing in the future.

1. Firstly, what does your day-to-day role at Verus Metrology involve?

It depends on the priorities of the day and the current stage of the various projects we are working on, but there is usually a daily managerial meeting. In addition, I’m responsible for scheduling metrology and metrology fixture projects in the laboratory. I also review and oversee all metrology application activities.

Similarly, I’m responsible for the preparation of activity reports, communicating with customers, and for designing metrology routines and methods.

After that, other regular tasks include dimensional metrology, programming, running co-ordinate measuring machines, and gage R+R programme creation, running, reporting, and recording.

Additionally, I review and create quotes for new metrology projects too. I provide support to our customers, including customers with turnkey metrology fixtures.

2. Verus specialises in providing metrology services and manufacturing metrology products. How do you see the industry changing over the coming years? What trends do you see, what are the challenges, and what are the opportunities?

As the medical device sector is heavily regulated and product quality is becoming increasingly critical, I see metrology becoming more important.

At Verus, we have seen an increasing requirement for validation support services including follow-up validation services after a product is released.

Therefore, the obvious next step is to automate these services.

3. Verus not only specialises in metrology but also specialises in providing metrology services to the MedTech industry. What are the key priorities for the MedTech clients you work with?

Hazel performing dimensional inspection

“Precision and accuracy are a given as they are the fundamental performance indicators of a metrology services provider.”

Above all, our customers want reliable and dependable customer support. They want a quick turnaround on their requests too, as well as an agile approach. They need that agile approach to be able to balance changing internal and external requirements.

At Verus, we also offer problem-solving capabilities, another area that is becoming more and more important for our clients.

4. The field you work in is currently striving to improve its gender balance. As someone who holds a senior position in the industry, what are your thoughts on the current state of gender balance? Similarly, do you think more should be done to improve it?

Engineering has traditionally been a male-dominated industry. This is evident to me when I scroll through my emails, I get a cross-sectional view of the people I deal with every day.

I see the industry making huge efforts to equal the gender balance through initiatives such as Engineer’s Week and the various open days.

Therefore, I would like to see parents and families taking these opportunities to introduce young girls to the field, expand their interest, and open new doors for them.

5. Why did you choose the career path you are currently on?

Firstly, I heard a lot about Verus through college. It had a great reputation for having a design flare.

So, when I finished my studies, I targeted Verus for employment. When I first joined the team, I was based in design. However, when an opportunity opened up in metrology, I took the chance on something new.

So from there, different opportunities opened up and I was happy to take them. In the metrology sphere, for instance, I get to work on an interesting and diverse range of projects from MedTech to Automotive to Aerospace. Moreover, this has given me the opportunity to travel and see the range of technologies that are out there.

6. What is most rewarding about your job?

Hazel-Metrology-Manager

“Above all, the satisfaction of taking a complicated and challenging component drawing and delivering a precise and accurate measurement system that the customer may not be able to achieve themselves.

7. The medical device industry and the engineering sector need more people, particularly young women, to pursue it as a career. To conclude, what advice would you give to a young person considering a career in MedTech, engineering, or metrology?

Particularly, Engineering opens a wide array of opportunities all over the world. The skills you learn are applicable in multiple industries, and MedTech always leads these industries with its cutting-edge technology.

To find out more about the Metrology services we provide contact Hazel Rooney, our Metrology Manager in Ireland on +353 (0)71 91 43506 (ext. 4) or Jon Banner, UK Operations Director on +44 (0)115 7841934. To request a quote click here. Moreover, be sure to subscribe to our NEWSLETTER to receive our technical blogs, customer updates, and latest developments.

Introduction 

As 2024 unfolds, the field of metrology is witnessing transformative changes. At Verus Metrology, we recognize the importance of keeping pace with technological advancements and new trends in the science of measurement. In this rapidly evolving landscape, innovations in metrology are not just about achieving precision; they are about meeting the evolving challenges of industries like medical devices, where accuracy is critical for ensuring safety and quality. This article explores the emerging trends and technological breakthroughs shaping metrology’s future. 

As 2024 unfolds, the field of metrology is witnessing transformative changes. At Verus Metrology, we recognize the importance of keeping pace with technological advancements and new trends in the science of measurement. In this rapidly evolving landscape, innovations in metrology are not just about achieving precision; they are about meeting the evolving challenges of industries like medical devices, where accuracy is critical for ensuring safety and quality. This article explores the emerging trends and technological breakthroughs shaping metrology’s future. 

Metrology Fixture Types – What’s Available, and Which is Best?

9 February 2023

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Fixture type and use cases

Metrology fixturing technologies continue to develop at a rapid pace, offering manufacturers in the medical device industry new and innovative solutions. Those solutions don’t just meet inspection and quality process requirements, but they also deliver efficiency savings and productivity gains. How do you know what metrology fixture types are available and which is best for your application? In this blog, we’ll outline the main options, their underlying technologies, and the use cases they are best suited for. 

However, it is also important to point out that the fixture types described in this blog represent broad categories. Within those categories, there is an infinite number of ways that a fixturing solution can be developed to meet your specific needs, reduce risk, and take advantage of opportunity

While there are metrology fixture types that we can explore, every fixture solution that we develop here at Verus Metrology is completely unique. In other words, fully customised for the product or component being measured, as well as the inspection machine, quality department workflows, production processes, and any other influencing factor. 

Metrology Fixture Types 

There are six main metrology fixture types: 

  • Auto rotational 
  • Manual rotator 
  • Multi-station
  • Proof of Principle (POP) 
  • Vision system 
  • Docking station 

 

Auto-Rotational Fixtures

Isometric view of an auto rotational metrology checking fixture, the automatic part of the fixture is the turning of the rail by a motor. The fixture has white plastic components held in place using brown clips

 

At a fundamental level, the job of a metrology fixture is to hold a product or component securely in place so it can be effectively inspected and measured. However, there are situations where the inspection process requires the part to be presented at different orientations to enable all the relevant measurements to be taken. This requirement for measurement in multiple orientations is increasing as medical device products become more complex and intricate. 

Auto-rotational fixtures enable the inspection of products and components in multiple orientations with minimal operator intervention. An auto-rotational fixture can be a single-station set-up, but they more commonly come in multi-station designs to minimise the time it takes to achieve your required sample rate. 

The most important feature of an auto-rotational fixture is that you can measure multiple components in multiple orientations in a single setup. 

Manual Rotator Fixtures

Manual Rotator Metrology Fixtures by Verus Metrology

Manual rotator fixtures offer similar benefits to auto-rotational fixtures. The obvious main difference is that operators manually rotate components once they are loaded into the fixture. 

Manual rotator fixtures can be multi-station. They are also designed so that all measurements in all orientations can be taken in one set-up. So, while the operator will need to manually control the rotation mechanism, there is no requirement to touch or adjust the components as the fixture holds them securely in place during rotation. 

The benefits of manual rotator fixtures include: 

  • Significantly reduced operator intervention 
  • Improved measurement accuracy 
  • Elimination of errors 
  • Faster and more efficient metrology processes 

Furthermore, we can design your manual rotator fixture so it can be loaded with components away from your CMM. This improves CMM availability as the machine doesn’t have to sit idle while components are being loaded onto the fixture. 

Multi-Station Fixtures 

multi station rotator

According to FDA regulations and ISO 13485, it is essential that you can statistically justify sampling rates in your quality procedures using a risk-based approach. The operational part of this requirement isn’t covered in the guidelines, but it is an important business consideration. How do you efficiently, accurately, and cost-effectively inspect the number of products or components that are required to hit your sampling rate target? 

Multi-station fixtures are a common solution. We can design multi-station fixtures in any configuration. This could be a large cavity multi-station fixture, a fixture to inspect very small and complex medical devices, or solutions for products or components of any size, geometry, or characteristic. 

The benefits of multi-station fixtures include: 

  • Operator intervention is greatly reduced 
  • Fixtures only need to be loaded once before full inspection routines can take place on multiple products at the same time 
  • Reduce human error 
  • Speed up inspection processes while achieving your sampling rate target 
  • Reducing the cost of inspections 

 

Proof of Principle Multi-station Prototype Fixtures 

proof of principle

 

In many product development and process change situations, it is beneficial to have a POP fixture that can be used for verification and validation purposes. The approach we typically take at Verus Metrology is to design a multi-station fixture to deliver on your requirements. 

However, before this multi-station fixture design goes into manufacturing, we design and produce a single-station POP prototype fixture. This POP prototype can be manufactured quickly in our advanced manufacturing facility. We’ll then put it through a gage R&R study to give you confidence in its repeatability and reproducibility, before sending it to you for evaluation and testing. 

POP prototype fixtures offer a range of benefits: 

  • Facilitates design for inspection during the product development process 
  • Minimises delays in process verification 
  • Enhances and speeds up the design transfer process 
  • Reduces time to market in line with regulatory requirements 

 

Vision System Solutions

We also design and manufacture fixturing solutions for vision systems in addition to the fixtures we design for use on CMMs. Fixturing solutions that are optimised for vision systems have a number of specific and differentiating features, including ensuring there is a clean and clear view of the part. 

Vision system solutions can also allow for backlighting where necessary. Furthermore, a single set-up is all that is required for the full inspection routine to take place, with parts securely held with as little force as possible. 

 

Docking Systems 

Docking System Verus Metrolody

Docking systems enhance the efficiency of quality departments that use multiple fixtures and/or have high sampling rates. Docking systems are securely fixed to CMMs to make it quick and easy for technicians to load fixtures that are fully set up with components ready for inspection. Once the inspection routine for a fixture is complete, it can be quickly and easily removed from the docking system ready for the next fixture to be loaded. 

With a custom-designed docking system, you can have confidence that each changeover results in precisely secured fixtures for repeatable and reproduceable inspections. 

Choosing the Right Fixture for Your Requirements

There are many factors to consider when choosing the best type of metrology fixture for your requirements. Your budget is an important consideration, as are your ROI goals, quality processes, quality resources, and future requirements. 

The best approach is to speak to a fixture design expert to explore the options and get an understanding of what is possible. Contact us today to find out more. 

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About Verus Metrology Partners

Verus is committed to the enhancement of our client’s metrology laboratories, machine efficiencies, and inspection processes. Since our beginning, our expert metrology engineering team has partnered with some of the world’s largest MedTech multinationals.

 

We specialize in high quantity, difficult to measure, yet critically important, medical device parts. As well as working in the MedTech, Pharmaceutical and Personal Care industry, we also work with metrology departments in the FMCG and Aerospace industry.