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Jordan Merhib, left, president of CogniTens North America, and marketing executive Eyal Mizrahi explain its 3-D systems. The company has focused on the auto industry but its technology has also been used by NASA.Local spotlight
Wixom company offers new measure of quality
Its 3-D systems allow the automotive industry a quick, more visual means to gauge parts.
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WIXOM -- Cell phones have rendered most phone booths obsolete and Jordan Merhib envisions a future when his company's technology will do the same to traditional measuring systems. Merhib, president of CogniTens North America, said his firm's noncontact, 3-D vision measurement systems could replace coordinate measuring machines and other devices used to gauge the quality of parts in auto plants around the world.
"With the traditional tools, it's a very long, time-consuming process that produced results that could only be interpreted by specialists," Merhib said. "People aren't giving up that technology, yet. It's an established part of the automotive business. We are trying to say, 'Look, there's a new way to do it.' "
That new way involves taking digital photos of the part under scrutiny and using sophisticated software that turns the picture into a 3-D rendering, similar to a topographic map, that visually details where the item differs from specifications. The Optigo 200 and OptiCell systems also can be used in a factory setting because they are not sensitive to vibrations, lighting conditions and temperature variations.
"We can take the tools to the problem and very quickly give you results everybody can look at and say, 'Aha, here is where we need to make adjustments,' " he said.
Instead of looking at a string of numbers, manufacturers can see a 3-D image and understand where the problems are, said Eyal Mizrahi, vice president of marketing and business development at CogniTens.
"These same people are telling us this is the first time they understand what they're manufacturing," Mizrahi said.
Mike Heringshausen, prototype leader at Tesco Engineering in Auburn Hills, uses two CogniTens systems and has a third being installed.
"The first time I saw the Optigo/OptiCell equipment I was so impressed that I presented it to my customers and was asked to quote a price before I even had the equipment installed," he said.
With companies budgeting millions of dollars for measurement devices that sell for more than $100,000 apiece, the CogniTens devices, which cost between $150,000 and $500,000, can provide significant savings and will become more prevalent in the industry, Heringshausen said.
"As the two systems become more visible in the measurement industry, I believe that the new generation of engineers will become dependent on this new innovative technology," he said.
And unlike some measurement instruments that have to be discarded when the model changes, CogniTens' products can be reused, Merhib said.
"When the product line changes, you can just re-program our tool and start again," Merhib said.
The company has been focusing on automotive uses, but the technology has been used at NASA to help replace the thermal protection system tiles damaged during space shuttle flights.
"The Optigo is unique when compared to other 3-D optical measuring systems because it acquires an image containing thousands of 3-D coordinates in less than a millisecond, which allows it to be hand-held," said Steve Tyler, an engineer in the Thermal Protection System Facility, in a United Space Alliance-produced newsletter.
The privately held company, based in Israel, saw sales double last year and expects them to double again this year. Local employment should increase from three five years ago to 20 by the end of this year, Merhib said.
"We are not just selling a system here or a system there anymore," Mizrahi said. "There are programs relying on CogniTens being a major league company that is able to support these implementations. I don't think exploding is the right word. It's more rapid growth in a controlled way."
Neal Haldane is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.
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