South African Automotive Metrology Forum

Minutes of the South African Automotive Metrology Forum meeting held at Ford Motor Company Silverton on 13 October 2005

REF: NML-05-0207 Present:

Ken Bartle (GMSA) Tom Botha (NAACAM) Phillip du Plooy (VWSA) Mike Keys (FORD) Patrick Ronan (NAACAMI) Giel Steyn (RMI) Eddie Tarnow (CSIR-NML)

Apologies:

André Bird (FORD) Greg Brink (RMI) Christo Botha (GMSA) Steve Sidney (NLA) Nick Weber (NISSAN)

Absent:

Brandon Barron (BMW) Marlan Pillay (SANAS) Harald Riedel (DCSA) Neville Tayler (SANAS)

Items of Discussion Action

1. Opening and welcome

Eddie, in his capacity as interim chairman, opened the meeting and welcomed the representatives. He once again expressed regret that not all the OEM’s were represented. He thanked Ford Motor Company for their hospitality in hosting the event in really nice facilities. INFO

2. Finalisation and Acceptance of agenda 2

The agenda as proposed was accepted with the following specific points noted under general.

- NISSAN confirmed support of the SAAMF - OEM requirement to analyze plastics/polymers using TG-MS - Official SAAMF member list - Year Plan INFO - ISO 17025 accreditation of suppliers - Toyotas SAAMF representative

3. Acceptance of previous minutes

The minutes of the SAAMF meeting held on 28 July 2005 were accepted with the following changes.

Patrick Ronan should have been recorded as having been present at the meeting.

The corrected minutes to be forwarded to NAAMSA for EDDIE publishing.

4. Election of Chairman

The issue of electing a chairman to relieve Eddie of his interim role was discussed. It was decided that since not all the OEMS were present, and that there was only one more meeting INFO scheduled for the year, that a new chairman be elected early in the new year.

5. Matters arising from previous minutes

5.1 Item 3.7 previous minutes: progress on the metrology BRANDON skills matrix is being hampered due to lack of response (BMW) from the OEMS – specifically relating to skills required in PHILIP fields other than dimensional metrology. (VWSA) CHRISTO (GMSA) MIKE (FORD) HARALD (DCSA) ANAND (TOYOTA) 3

NICK (NISSAN)

5.2 Item 5.1 previous minutes: a copy of the presentation by the UL IS0/TS 16949 auditors was circulated. INFO

5.3 Item 6.2 previous minutes: lists of SME suppliers to the BRANDON OEMS, who are problematic from a measurement (BMW) capability point of view, still need to be submitted. PHILIP (VWSA) CHRISTO (GMSA) MIKE (FORD) HARALD (DCSA) ANAND (TOYOTA) NICK (NISSAN)

5.4 Item 6.3 previous minutes: SME suppliers was raised at INFO the SQA manager’s meeting.

5.5 Item 7.3 previous minutes: the proposed CMM course syllabus had only elicited response form BMW. It has now INFO been finalised including BMW’s requests.

5.6 Item 9.1 previous minutes: The Ford presentation on their skills profile had to be postponed yet again due to staff EDDIE resignations. This is to be retained as an agenda point. MIKE

5.7 Item 10.4 previous minutes: The OEMS were to provide INFO feedback as an agenda item.

5.8 Item 11.1 previous minutes: NAAMSA had been approached and the SAAMF informed that Hendrik Moolman was not the correct person to help motivate OEM INFO SAAMF attendance.

5.9 Item 11.2 previous minutes: the survey document had INFO been circulated. Feedback was an agenda item.

6. Update on CMM training course 4

6.1 Eddie provided the meeting with feedback on the proposed CMM training course as follows:-

- the overseas presenter Kostadin Doytchinov had been booked and would be presenting the course. - The dates and venues had been confirmed as follows:

 Course 1: Gauteng course Dates: 28 – 29 November 2005 Venue: CSIR-NML, Building 5, CSIR campus, Pretoria.  Course 2: Eastern Cape Course Dates: 01 – 02 December 2005 Venue: to be confirmed. (VWSA & GMSA offered venues but only up to a maximum of ±20 students)

Alternative venues in Port Elizabeth were suggested by Ken and Philip as being East Cape training centre, or the Caledon Conference Centre. CSIR NML to contact these EDDIE venues as possibilities.

- The price of the course remained unchanged at R4000,00 per candidate excl VAT.

- The examination was to be pitched at artisan level. EDDIE

- The finalised syllabus was to be forwarded to NAAMSA EDDIE for publishing on their website.

- The venues should be able to cater for up to 50 students as the meeting felt there would be widespread interest in the course. EDDIE

- A brochure containing all the details as well as a registration form would be sent to all the OEM representatives on the SAAMF. They all agreed to send ALL a copy on to their suppliers.

- A covering letter was to be drafted and sent with the brochure to highlight the following aspects:-

 The CMM audit results of the participants to date had indicated several measurement problems,  Explain the short notice due to the difficulty experienced in being able to secure the international expert to present the course, 5

 Emphasise the course dealt with Coordinate Measurement Fundamentals and was not manufacturer or model specific and also addressed manually performed measurements as well as automated measurements. EDDIE The draft letter was to be sent to Philip for comment PHILIP before being sent out with the brochure.

7. CMM audit programme feedback

7.1 Eddie provided feedback to the meeting regarding the results obtained by the participants in the programme thus far. He explained that an official presentation of the audit had been given at the Test and Measurement conference held in September 2005.

7.2 The same presentation was then made to the SAAMF meeting in an abbreviated way and the following conclusions drawn:-

- The aim of the audit programme is to:-  Identify and analyse CMM capabilities in SA,  To establish measurement traceability for CMM measurements,  Assess the influence of environmental conditions on CMM measurements. - The audit part was machined from aluminium to resemble a typical automotive component with tapers, incline planes, holes, cylinders, rebates, circles, circles of bolt holes etc.

- The main findings were that length and diameter measurements were acceptable, although there were some erroneous measurements but roundness, angle and concentricity measurements were a major cause for concern.

- Graphic examples indicated the degree of overlap between the pilot lab results (CSIR NML) and those performed by industry. A graph was also used to indicate the lack of overlap for roundness measurement!

- The main causes for measurement errors:-  Probe system used, 6

 Parameter setting,  Environmental conditions  CMM errors (either erroneous or inadequate calibration)  Metrologist/operator skills

- Examples were given of gross errors caused by operator/metrologist incompetence such as reporting a value of 12,207 mm for a nominal measured distance of 5 mm, or reporting a value of 131,381 mm for a nominal measured distance of 250 mm, or reporting a value of 0,031 mm for a nominal measured distance of 250 mm

- Eddie expressed that the major concern of all was that very few participants reported an uncertainty of measurement and most had no idea of their CMM accuracy spec! This in spite of using their CMM’s to measure components to check for compliance to technical specifications.

- Clearly a need for CMM operator/metrologist training INFO was identified.

8. Discussion on Ball-Bar calibration case study

8.1 Eddie presented the findings of an exercise conducted by CSIR NML into the possibility of providing local traceability on a 6 m ball-bar used for verification of large CMM’s. INFO

8.2 The customer wished to have the ball-bar calibrated to an uncertainty of ±1µm which was not possible by the National Metrology laboratory locally. This was based on a calibration performed by Zeiss in Germany in 1999. It had been calibrated subsequently by CSIR NML to uncertainties of ±1,3µm (2001) and 3,1µm (2004) INFO respectively.

8.3 An analysis of the long term stability performance of the ball-bar was conducted and it was found that over the period of 1999 – 2004, the ball-bar had changed by as INFO much as 22,2 µm!!

8.4 Further investigation revealed that a typical uncertainty just due to reproducibility (the ball-bar has to be dissembled and re-assembled each time if is calibrated or INFO used) was of the order of ±2,8µm. 7

8.5 The calibration by the Zeiss lab is credible as they are DKD, (DKD Germany = SANAS South Africa), accredited to INFO measure length up to 400 mm. However, the uncertainty quoted of ±1µm only applied at the time of calibration.

8.6 The conclusion drawn was that in order to determine the accuracy of the ball-bar when being used to calibrate/verify CMM’s , all of the following factors need to be taken into account:- - calibration uncertainty - uncertainty due to reproducibility (assembly and disassembly - uncertainty due to drift of the ball-bar between INFO calibrations. - The accuracy specification of the CMM’s to be verified.

8.7 Since the calibration uncertainty offered by the CSIR NML is smaller than any of the other factors it was advised that:- - the ball-bar be sent to the CSIR NML for calibration and the calibration uncertainty be estimated to include the repeatability of assembling and disassembling the ball-bar 5 times. - The accuracy specifications of the CMM’s to be verified, be researched. - The uncertainty for the use of the ball-bar in the OEM factory be estimated (the CSIR NML can help with this), including all the factors in paragraph 8.6 above - An analysis be conducted to ascertain whether the estimated uncertainty is in fact 10 times smaller than the accuracy specification of the CMM’s to be verified. INFO (as required by ISO/TS 16949)

8.8 If the conditions in 8.7 above can be met (10:1 ratio), then local calibration is fit-for-purpose and the option will clearly save the OEM large amounts of money, dramatically improve turnaround time and reduce the risk INFO of damage to the ball-bar due to overseas freighting.

9. OEM feedback

The OEMs were requested to provide feedback on the following matters:- 9.1. Metrology skills matrix 9.2. List of SME suppliers 9.3. Hardness traceability requirements 8

9.4. Dimensional software and hardware survey questions 9.5. The OEMs provided feedback as follows:- 9.5.1 VWSA would provide feedback regarding the PHILIP metrology skills profile required in fields other than dimensional at the next meeting

9.5.2 VWSA provided feedback on hardness - They use Vickers, Briel and Rockwell hardness scales and import calibrated standard blocks - They use the Shore A&D scales for hardness measurements on rubber-again they import calibrated standard blocks - They use a Zwick machine for foam displacement testing. This instrument is calibrated by Zwick who send technicians out to SA. - The hardness of plastics is tested by means of an INFO indentation check.

9.5.3 GMSA provided feedback on hardness in that they also use Brinel, Vickers and Rockwell scales. More CHRISTO detail to be provided at the next meeting.

9.5.4 In general, suppliers carry full responsibility to invest in the measuring equipment necessary to prove their components confirm to the technical specification requirements. The OEM’s only equip themselves to verify the test results of the INFO suppliers.

9.6. A discussion around dimensional hardware & software survey ensued and the spreadsheet maintained by Eddie INFO updated real time in the meeting with info from the OEM’s present. EDDIE 9.7. The OEM’s who have not yet submitted answers to the survey are to be polled again:-

10. Calibration of shadowgraphs

10.1 Eddie discussed the calibration of shadowgraphs for radius measurements. His attention had been drawn to this by the SABS TS 16949 auditors at the recently INFO held assessor workshop to which he was invited to give a presentation.

10.2 Examples were discussed where paper templates were being used as the “standards” against which radii of INFO 9

manufactured components were being measured.

10.3 Obviously this is totally unacceptable as there is no traceability between the original drawing dimensions, that INFO which has been printed out, (due to printer and software distortion), and that which has been cut out, (0perator error)

10.4 The only acceptable scenario is one where the template has been manufactured from a material which is INFO dimensionally stable, (taking into account the effects of ALL environmental conditions), and which has been certified, on a certificate from an SANAS accredited laboratory, to meet the dimensions and tolerances required.

11. Feedback from and to the NAAMSA SQA managers meeting

11.1 OEMS not yet represented on the SAAMF would be approached by letter from NAAMSA requesting their support. Daimler Chrysler, and Toyota were still not represented on the SAAMF. Nissan had recently responded INFO indicating that they would participate if and when human resources allowed.

11.2 They have however requested to be put on the circulation EDDIE list of the SAAMF minutes.

11.3 OEM’s were requested to submit the names of their SME suppliers, having problems as a result of poor OEMS measurements, to Eddie.

11.4 Eddie was invited to attend a SABS TS auditor workshop and give a presentation on a checklist which TS auditors could use as an aid when auditing clause 7.6 of ISO/TS 16949. This checklist was also to be sent to the SQA INFO managers via NAAMSA for distribution to their auditors.

11.5 The following aspects around calibration were raised:-

11.5.1. If a SANAS logo did not appear on a certificate the calibration/test was done outside the lab accreditation. 11.5.2. The calibration service provider should not adjust an instrument unless expressly requested to do so by the client. 11.5.3. A SANAS accredited test or calibration provider was obliged to conduct a “contract 10

review” with the customer during which all the technical deliverables are to be agreed to and finalised. 11.5.4. Certificates issued by SANAS accredited calibration/testing service providers must INFO contain the minimum information as specified in ISO/IEC 17025.

11.6 The issue of “fit-for-purpose” calibration was discussed at length. The meeting was surprised to hear that a SANAS accredited calibration laboratory could perform a INFO calibration, issue the results on a certificate bearing the SANAS logo, and yet the instrument could still not be fit- for-purpose.

Some examples were then given where the uncertainty of measurement quoted on the certificate, was larger than the calibrated instruments specification, effectively INFO degrading the instrument accuracy performance.

12. Feedback on SAAMF representation at SABS TS Auditor workshop

12.1 Eddie attended a SABS TS auditor workshop at which he conducted a presentation entitled “The role of ISO/TS 16949 certification body auditors in improving the level of INFO metrology in the SA automotive industry”.

12.2 Very interesting discussions resulted, some of which clearly indicated that the level of measurement/metrology INFO in the automotive industry in many instances, left a lot to be desired.

12.3 Some of these examples were:- - Calibration service providers approaching companies and offering to “manage and calibrate” their entire test and measurement inventory. Eddie mentioned this was problematic because he knew of no SANAS accredited INFO scope wide enough to calibrate all instruments on-site.

- In many instances the “external” calibration service provider did not issue calibration certificates but only updated history cards. Eddie explained that this did not meet the requirements of ISO/TS 16949 as the INFO calibrations did not meet the requirements of ISO 17025 11

- In some instances, software was modified by the calibration service provider, under the guise of “adjustment,” without any documented record of the values before or after adjustment, and no record of the actual software correction: This does not meet the requirements of ISO 17025 and consequently also not INFO the requirements of ISO/TS 16949.

12.4 Eddie left the SABS auditors with a copy of the checklist he had designed to assist them with the auditing of clause INFO 7.6.

12.5 The committee requested Eddie to modify the checklist in paragraphs 3.2; 7.1; 8.1 to indicate which other accreditors would be accepted, especially for calibrations EDDIE conducted by companies overseas.

12.6 Eddie explained that any accreditor who was a signatory to the ILAC arrangement, (International Laboratory accreditation Cooperation) was an acceptable accreditor, i.e. equal to SANAS locally. Details of these accreditors are available on the ILAC website at http://www.ilac.org by INFO accessing the link “ILAC MRA-SIGNATORIES”.

13. Feedback regarding progress made with Automotive SME Suppliers

13.1 Although the names of some SME suppliers had been obtained from OEMS, very little progress had been made in assisting them to access funding for access to metrology consultation.

This was becoming a “catch-22” situation as there was little or no funding available for members of CSIR NML to consult with these SME’s in order to assess their situation and help them to write a motivation to access funds to pay INFO consultants to help them resolve their metrology problems.

13.2 The OEMS present at the meeting made it very clear that they would not contribute financially to helping an SME supplier get their metrology to the required standard. Any measurements required to prove their product conformed to the required specification was their responsibility and INFO theirs alone.

13.3 A consolidated spreadsheet, containing the names of all the SME suppliers obtained to date, to be circulated to the 12

SAAMF members for them to add any additional name of EDDIE SME suppliers to them.

14. End of life vehicles directive 2000/53/EC

14.1 This issue, and the impact on local metrology capabilities required to meet the requirements were discussed at INFO length during the meeting

14.2 In particular the following aspects were raised:-

14.2.1 All suppliers and OEMS were obliged to comply with the ROHSA (Record of Hazardous substances act). 14.2.2 XRF (X-Ray Flourescence Spectroscopy) and XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) methods are fast, and speed is important considering the volumes of component samples which need to be measured, but it is questionable as to whether these measurement techniques deliver the required accuracy to prove INFO compliance with the legislation.

14.2.3 Measuring instruments need to be able to test for more substances than the basic 4, namely Lead Pb, Cadrium Cd, Mercury Hg INFO and Hexavalet Chrome CR6+.

14.2.4 Toyota has been performing tests for these substances using their own equipment and have been getting measurement results which differ from those of their suppliers. INFO

14.2.5 Although the legislation call for zero levels of these substances of concern, practically INFO detection limits appear to be around 12 ppb (parts per billion).

14.2.6 Eddie explained that it was critical that the metrologists at the CSIR NML, responsible for providing traceability for these measurements in SA, be intimately involved in any committees, forums, discussions etc around these measurements as they were required to ensure the CSIR NML could respond to any industry demand for 13

traceability. The appropriate staff at CSIR NML to interact directly with Patrick Ronan as he is chairing the working group looking EDDIE into this matter.

14.2.7 Patrick Ronan to be sent notification of the ELV seminar to be held at CSIR NML. EDDIE

15. Distribution of Metrology articles published in Auto insight magazine

15.1 Eddie explained that the CSIR NML had written a number of metrology articles focussing specifically on the automotive industry. These had been published in “AutoInsight” magazine and permission had been granted INFO by the editor for their unconditional distribution.

15.2 The titles thus far are:- - “Roundness: How to express it in numbers” - “ Are terms such as, “ measurement traceability”, “calibration”, “verification”, accuracy, and “precision” music to your ears or do they sound like a badly tuned orchestra?” - “ The pitfalls associated with the selection of a calibration or testing service provider.” - “Surface Texture: what is on the surface?” - “ Are the measurements performed by your company comparable to those performed by your international partners?” - “ Coordinate metrology: performance evaluation of coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) - “ How certain are you of your measurement results – did you remember to take the “uncertainty of measurement into account?” - ISO/TS 16949: 2002 – meeting the requirements of clause 7.6 “control of monitoring and measuring devices”. INFO - Does your company measure up?”

15.3 It was decided that these articles would be electronically distributed to SAAMF members who could then freely distribute them within their own organisations and to their EDDIE suppliers.

16. General

16.1 Eddie asked the meeting if there was a requirement amongst the SAAMF members for the testing of batches of 14

substances such as rubber using Tg-MS (thermogravinetic Mass Spectrometry) as the CSIR NML were investigating the viability of purchasing such an instrument to provide a service to industry.

None of the SAAMF members had any need whatsoever for these measurements and suggested it would be more applicable to some suppliers, example the tyre INFO manufacturers

16.2 A spreadsheet containing SAAMF members names, their appointed deputies, and their contact details to be circulated to all SAAMF members for updating. EDDIE

16.3 The meeting requested that a year plan be designed so as to ensure maximum benefit of the SAAMF to members. The following points to be put on the agenda for the last meeting of the year:- - meeting dates for 2006 (dependant on SQA manager meeting dates) - identify small number of key projects, members to ALL provide suggestions at next meeting - Set objectives for the SAAMF - SWOT analysis of the SAAMF - Summarise the success of the SAAMF

16.4 The meeting discussed the importance of ISO 17025 accreditation and its role in ensuring credible test and measurement results – particularly of suppliers to the OEMs. In particular this was becoming increasingly important to export suppliers.

The following problems were however being experienced:- - There was a lack of awareness about SANAS in general - More information was needed regarding availability of SANAS documentation, the implications of being SANAS accredited, the process of becoming accredited and the benefits of accreditation.

16.5 The testing of catalytic converters was discussed and in particular the testing of the new generation combined cat and particulate filter. More info to be provided by the OEMS OEMs at next meeting.

16.6 A service provider was required for the measurement of internal stress on glass windows and windscreen as well as the calibration of the optical instruments used to perform these measurements. Investigation required to EDDIE 15

see if CSIR NML can perform these functions.

16.7 The name of Anand Pather was presented to the meeting as the appropriate contact person at Toyota to be requested to support the SAAMF. NAAMSA to send the EDDIE official letter requesting support to him for response.

16.8 Patrick Ronan raised the concern that although the SAAMF were focussing on measurements performed during the manufacture of motor vehicles, very little was being done to address the measurements being performed in the “after market” arena, whether by official agent service centres, or non-official agent workshops.

He had personally audited facilities who were official service agents for Toyota, BMW and GMSA and found that when auditing the calibration and control of equipment, the calibration of equipment in the workshops was abysinal – don’t know how to do it, where to have it done and blame their situation on the exhorbitant costs of having instruments calibrated.

This is bound to begin having serious consequences on long warranties no being offered as standard on new vehicles.

Eddie mentioned that the manufacturer of the “standard wheel” was progressing which was one audit to be used to assess the situation in the wheel balancing measurements at the tyre fitment centres.

The SAAMF to investigate ways of addressing this problem in conjunction with Giel Steyn who represents the RMI on EDDIE the SAAMF

16.9 Eddie thanked Ford for their hospitality, great venue and excellent lunch and refreshments. INFO

17. Next Meeting

Date: 24 November 2005

Venue: CSIR NML, Candela Room, Building 5, CSIR campus, Meiring Naude Road, Pretoria INFO Time: 09h30 – 15h00 16