Melotte cuts weekly AM quality data handling from three hours to 20 minutes with amsight
Melotte, an Additive Manufacturing specialist based in Zonhoven, Belgium, has reduced weekly production and quality data handling from approximately three hours to around 20 minutes after implementing software from Hamburg, Germany-based amsight, according to a press release issued by the software company. Melotte also reports shorter root-cause investigations and improved quality documentation for customers.
Prior to implementing amsight, Melotte’s production and quality data was distributed across Excel spreadsheets, manual records, machine sensor data, computed tomography (CT) reports and separate maintenance documentation. Bringing this information together to establish part and process histories required considerable manual effort.
The management of such data can become increasingly challenging as AM manufacturers move from development to repeatable production, particularly as customer numbers grow, specifications become more demanding and quality requirements increase.
“For us, the problem was never a lack of data, it was bringing the data together in a way we could actually use,” stated Thomas Vandenberghe, Designer at Melotte. “With amsight, we now have build, CT, sensor, and maintenance information connected in one environment. That gives us a much clearer view of what is happening across the process.”
Root-cause investigations that previously required three to four hours of searching documentation and correlating information can now typically be completed in 30 minutes or less, depending on the issue.
The company has also used the connected production data to investigate manufacturing defects. In one instance, an increase in defects detected by CT inspection was traced to one of the lasers in a dual-laser machine. By correlating CT inspection results with build data, the team was able to identify the source of the problem and take corrective action.
“Root-cause analysis used to mean going from one file to another, then back to the machine to inspect sensor data,” Vandenberghe continued. “Now we can see these relationships much more quickly. It gives us the broader process view we simply did not have before.”
Melotte supplies industrial sectors including semiconductor, aerospace and defence, where customers increasingly require evidence of controlled, traceable and repeatable manufacturing processes.
The amsight software is designed to provide production quality data management beyond machine monitoring and document storage. It connects powder, machine, process, post-processing and inspection data at the part level, supporting traceability, statistical process control (SPC), audit-ready reporting and root-cause analysis.
Vandenberghe concluded, “If you want to supply complex production parts into demanding markets, quality data management is not an optional extra. You need the evidence chain behind the part. amsight gives us a much stronger foundation for that.”
