Automated wall thickness measurement for castings – seamless quality control for complex components
21.07.2025
Successful series deployment at BMW
Published on www.foundry-planet.com on 21 July 2025
Castings are often characterised by complex geometries and varying wall thicknesses – a challenge for quality assurance in series production. With the development of an automated wall thickness measurement, RS has now created a technological solution that enables seamless and non-destructive inspection directly within the production process.
This innovation represents a further milestone in the implementation of customer-specific requirements – both as a stand-alone system with a collaborative robot and as a fully integrated inline solution within the value stream. This makes 100% coverage of the components possible in real time – flexibly adaptable to different component geometries and inspection requirements.
Precision meets efficiency – the advantages at a glance
- Short cycle time: At just three seconds per measuring point, the inspection is not only precise but also extremely fast – ideal for use in series operation.
- Non-destructive without contact medium: Dispensing with additional inspection media reduces effort and costs and facilitates integration into existing processes.
- High repeatability: With a measuring accuracy of ± 0.02 mm, the system delivers reproducible and reliable results – even with difficult geometries.
- Reliability: A success rate of over 99% demonstrates the robustness and industrial maturity of the technology.
Successful series deployment at BMW
A particular highlight is the reference project with BMW: here, RS’s automated wall thickness measurement was successfully integrated into the series production of rear axle carriers. The example shows that even complex aluminium components with different wall thicknesses can be reliably inspected inline – without compromising on cycle time or accuracy.
Forward-looking solution for the foundry industry
With this technology, RS is setting new standards in the quality assurance of castings. The solution not only allows early error detection during the ongoing process, but also makes an important contribution to increasing efficiency and reducing scrap and rework.
Particularly for components with different wall thicknesses, as are increasingly required in modern vehicle structures or in mechanical engineering, automated inspection creates a new dimension of process reliability.
Conclusion
RS’s automated wall thickness measurement is a pioneering step towards the smart foundry – precise, efficient and ready for the industrial transformation.
