Second-hand measurement

Many of us regularly engage in second hand purchases: from an exciting bargain with clothes from a charity shop to something as essential as buying a second-hand car. Especially with these larger purchases, ‘previously owned’ is sometimes the only way to ensure a high standard of quality at an affordable price. As much as it is common in everyday life, it can also be an effective cost-saver on the industrial scale.

For an industry like robotic automation solutions, there are plenty of moving parts on the factory floor which are expensive assets. These assets are also not as quick to end up on a scrapyard as a second-hand car might, as they retain value and accuracy for a long time if serviced properly. Stecher Automation, which specialises in robotic automation solutions, has for many years sourced its entire metrology ecosystem from ZEISS, including several ZEISS Originals: “used equipment that is bought back by ZEISS or taken back from trade fairs and ZEISS Quality Excellence Centres, refurbished, brought up to the latest technological standards and certified.”

Key highlights

• Cost saving from used machines
• Time saving with shorter delivery times
• Fully certified & 12 month warranty after ZEISS’ fully-fledged refurbishment and testing
• Spare parts for up to ten years depending on the machine
• Full customer support and advice for both new and used machines

Speaking on the used equipment, Carsten Einhart, Head of Quality Assurance at Stecher GmbH says “While calibrating or using those machines, we can’t see any difference compared to our new equipment, so we can absolutely see us using ZEISS Originals in the future without any restrictions.” Einhart’s confidence in the refurbished machines is evident: “I couldn’t tell you right away which devices are used or new at our company, I think that says it all,” adding that “All the measuring devices in our company meet their accuracy requirements during the annual inspections by the service department, regardless of whether they are new devices or ZEISS Originals.”

Stecher has a total of ten ZEISS DuraMax machines for in-series inspection and more than half are devices from the ZEISS Originals programme. For the refurbishment process of these devices, ZEISS experts inspect each device and replace any components that have functional or optical defects and do not meet ZEISS’ strict standards for original parts. This includes parts such as drive motors, scales, and wear parts. The software is also updated for each device so that control systems and sensors meet the current manufacturer standard. At the end of the refurbishment, the measuring system is tested according to the same equipment specifications as ZEISS’ brand-new machines. Only after these tests have been passed, the system is re-certified and given a 12-month warranty, with spare parts available for up to ten years, depending on the machine type.

Simon Stecher, Deputy Operative Managing Director of Stecher Automation, explains that the decision to acquire used systems from ZEISS came about because of timing. With a large growth in the company, and their order book filled up for the entire year early on, additional measuring equipment was needed quickly. “Because we did not want to do without ZEISS quality due to the high demands of our customers, we opted for ZEISS Originals, which could be delivered more quickly,” says Stecher.

In 2014, the Stecher Group acquired their first ZEISS measuring devices. “We originally had devices from different suppliers in use, but decided to equip our measuring ecosystem in the measuring room as well as in production completely with ZEISS products,” explains Einhart, adding that the highest accuracy is needed for their products, as well as that “the use of measuring devices from one manufacturer only reduces the internal training effort for us enormously.” Other benefits of using one supplier include that the compatible software across all the measuring systems greatly adds to Stecher’s automation projects.

ZEISS’ services ensure that there is always advice available when necessary, for both new and refurbished equipment. “If you need something, you get competent help from ZEISS. (…) At the same time, we got to a point quite quickly where we don’t need any help at all and everything just works – that’s the best way, of course,” says Stecher.

The Stecher Group intends to continue using ZEISS equipment, both new and devices from their Originals series.