Location: Solutions > Off Road Gear

Off Road Gear

Albins Off-Road Gear is a progressive business in central Victoria literally on the move.  With their latest coordinate measuring machine (CMM) acquisition, a Brown & Sharpe Global Advantage 7.10.7 running PC-DMIS CAD software, director Steve McDonald believes that the business is in a strong position to further build upon their export success achieved so far. 

Since acquiring the new CMM last year Steve McDonald commented "we have found many other uses and applications for the CMM technology at Albins - a number of which we had not even thought about prior to our decision to purchase a CMM."  

Some of these new applications include the ability they now have to measure tooling offsets for CNC machines - saving huge amounts of time, as well as the capability they have to efficiently measure many complex milled parts which in the past had proved to be extremely difficult and time consuming to measure. 

Production of first-off sample reports for local and export clients has enabled the business to bring new products to market far faster and with more certainty than had ever been previously contemplated.  Albins is also able with the CMM to quickly assess new designs prior to manufacture as part of the company's design for manufacture and other lean processes. 

As one of Australia's leading manufacturers of transmissions, gear sets and performance products for the off-road and racing markets, Albins are steadily growing their export markets in the USA, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  

The business, started over 30 years ago by owner Ivan Albins, achieved early recognition with the manufacture of replacement gears for VW gear boxes used in rallying and racing applications where the engine horsepower exceeded the design limits of the original transmission gears.  From VW products Albins has expanded over the years to cover a wide range of other makes and also widened the range to include drive-shafts, CV joints and full transmission sets.  The business success now sees Albins exporting over 70% of turnover. 

The Brown & Sharpe Global CMM was originally purchased by Albins with three key objectives in mind, these being: 

  •  General quality control capabilities,
  •  Reverse engineering and
  •  Sub-contract inspection capacity

The accurate measurement of some part features had previously proven difficult and time consuming with Albin's existing metrology equipment consisting of dial callipers, indicators and height gauges etc.   Now these measurements are taken automatically and repeatably with a minimum of effort on the CMM.  Measuring shoulder lengths on a range of shafts was previously a complex, time consuming task and required a high level of skill, now with the CMM 100% of these shafts can be measured by any employee with instant documentation and reporting.  The CMM at Albins has now become one of the businesses highest utilised pieces of equipment - running at around 60% of the time in measurement mode.

As well as being able to efficiently measure large volumes of parts on the CMM, it has been the new uses for the technology that has amazed Steve McDonald.  "Now we can determine the capabilities of our production processes with a high degree of confidence allowing us to run our production facilities with improved productivity and output.  We also are able to provide fully detailed inspection reports for clients giving them increased confidence and access to full part traceability."

Whilst the part quality has always been very good, McDonald remarked that the use of the CMM will help improve even further the quality of Albins components with the aim being to eliminate premature failure and wear of these key drive components and sub-assemblies. 

Albins have also made use of the CMM to help perform process validation checks such as pre and post heat treatment, checking for distortion or looking for changes in major characteristics during multi-stage machining operations.

Reverse engineering at Albins involves measuring accurately the size of items such as existing OEM gearbox housings and then to position and check the interference of shafts and location points for their racing components, "the CMM is exceptionally good at telling us where everything is in space" according to McDonald.  The ability of the PC-DMIS software to export measured data into a 3D CAD system has dramatically improved the efficiency of this reverse engineering process, another clear indication that all of Albin's key objectives set at the time of purchasing the CMM equipment have been achieved. 

In the Ballarat region of Victoria, Albins with their CMM capabilities is now able to offer other businesses a range of contract measurement services and to many of their existing customers the purchase of CMM technology has cemented in their mind the seriousness and the commitment that Albins has made to quality manufacturing for the future.

The CMM forms a key cornerstone in Albins overall business strategy as they move along the path of lean manufacturing, in order to succeed in the tough and competitive world of global metals manufacturing.

Hi-Tech Metrology and Albins will continue on their close working relationship to ensure that their investment in the Brown & Sharpe CMM continues to provide the necessary on-going returns for future success, particularly as new market opportunities create the need for new products each with their own set of production, measurement and performance challenges.