Case Study
ROMER Absolute Arm
Bombardier Transportation, Bautzen
The portable measurement
secrets to maintaining pole
position
by Andreas Petrosino
The Bombardier Transportation works at Bautzen in
eastern Germany constructs trams for municipalities
all over the world to satisfy the increasing demand for
public transport. Design, environmental compatibility
and safety feature highly in every tender for new trams.
With the objective of surpassing these high requirements,
Bombardier secures the necessary quality in the Bautzen
factory with mobile 3D measuring systems from Hexagon
Metrology.
The complex geography of many urban areas means
that trams and light railways are indispensable. They are
symbols of modern city life and allow urban journeys to
progress simply and rapidly through heavy traffic. Trams
have been made at Bautzen since 1896. In those days
With its 4m measurement volume, the ROMER arm reaches every relevant point on the fixture.

they got their power in a different way than they do today: individual parts and how they are put together. Peter Haase,
there were no overhead lines, instead trams were steam- who is responsible for inspection provision at the Bautzen
driven or pulled by horses. The issues to be addressed in works, has opted for a portable coordinate measuring machine
the development and construction of modern trams by solution for his 3D measurement tasks in the form of the
Bombardier Transportation stand in remarkable contrast to ROMER Absolute Arm.
those in the pioneering times of public transport, which were
concerned simply with the transport of people from A to B.
Low-floor construction and quiet operation are only two of the Hexagon Metrology is a
qualities demanded of contemporary cars. In addition urban
transport operators are interested in high reliability, minimum
very important partner for
maintenance and low energy use. us. The performance of the
Quality: the sum of perfect individual parts systems and the customer
In the production of trams, Bombardier places great emphasis service is right in every
on accuracy, however the long operating life of a vehicle and
hence its competitive edge depend on the quality of the respect.
Inspection of a coupling support for a tram.

Incoming parts have to undergo a stringent examination,

above all during first article inspection in preparation for the
introduction of a new product series. Peter Haase explains:
“We define a number of measurement points, which we then
compare with the design data. If we find the part is outside
the tolerances, we are in a position to intervene at the earliest
possible stage in the manufacture of the part and eliminate the
defect from the production process.” The ROMER measuring
arms at Bombardier, which have measurement ranges of 3.5m
and 4m, make even large parts easy to inspect.

For large parts and assembly fixtures

A ROMER Absolute Arm is also used to measure assembly
fixtures at Bombardier. Without having to be moved from its
position in the middle of the assembly fixture, the measuring
arm can quickly provide precise information showing where
the fixture has to be adjusted. “When you are standing in
the middle of the fixture, the absolute encoders on the Thomas Dahn, who is the specialist in portable measuring
ROMER arm are superb, because you don’t have to reference arms for Hexagon Metrology in Germany, and Peter Haase look
them,” says Peter Haase. Thanks to these encoders, the over the successful introduction of the portable measuring
measurement technicians can dispense with the initialisation system into the Bautzen works.
of every movement axis, a task which was always required
with previous measuring arms. This saves time and effort.
“In addition to the ROMER Absolute Arm, we also use a Leica
Absolute Tracker AT901 and a Leica T-Probe at our works,”
says Peter Haase. “The Tracker comes into its own mainly with
very large fixtures. We value the mobility and reliability of both
systems. Hexagon Metrology is a very important partner for us.
The performance of the systems and the customer service is
right in every respect.”
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& Stations

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Hexagon Metrology offers a comprehensive range of products Hexagon Metrology is part of Hexagon (Nordic exchange:
and services for all industrial metrology applications in sectors HEXA B). Hexagon is a leading global provider of design,
such as automotive, aerospace, energy and medical. We sup- measurement and visualisation technologies that enable
port our customers with actionable measurement information customers to design, measure and position objects, and
along the complete life cycle of a product – from development process and present data.
and design to production, assembly and final inspection.
Learn more at www.hexagon.com
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Centers for service and demonstrations, and a network of over
100 distribution partners on five continents, we empower our
customers to fully control their manufacturing processes,
enhancing the quality of products and increasing efficiency
in manufacturing plants around the world.

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All rights reserved. Due to continuing product development,

Hexagon Metrology reserves the right to change product
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