The relationship between a manufacturer and their software provider can be like a comfortable pair of jeans. Every day, you put them on, and they fit perfectly. They bend and stretch as you move around in your workspace. This comfort and familiarity are happening between A & M Precision Measurement and Verisurf Software— a metrology software company.
Tony Ellis, owner of A & M Precision Measurement of Kent, WA, said he enjoys his business so much that coming to work on Sunday afternoon makes him comfortable.“ I can come to work on a Sunday, and it’ s like going golfing to me.”
The company has only six employees, which Ellis said was larger before the pandemic. But they are good at what they do and efficient due to the software they use from Verisurf. He said he started working with Verisurf as the owner, Ernie Husted, was formulating his company. Ellis said Husted conferred with him to understand how aerospace manufacturers could use the software. He leaned on insights from Ellis regarding metrology, laser trackers, and tool fabrication.
David Olson, director of sales and marketing with Verisurf Software, which Sandvik just acquired, said that Verisurf started in 1995. He commented that metrology software was an emerging technology at the time. The business, headquartered in Anaheim, CA, is now one of the leading metrology software suites with coordinated measuring machine( CMM) capabilities.
While this technology was still in development in the mid-1990s, Olson said,“ I was very fortunate to hit the engineering market in the late 1980s, becoming a power user in CAD and CAM, to strike out and make the transition from hands-on engineering to mechanical engineering.” Like Olson, Ellis and Husted were early adopters of software in manufacturing.
A & M makes aerospace and space tooling, fixtures, and gantries; they have found the Verisurf software a necessary asset for efficient assembling of their parts. Ellis and his team use the software all day to serve customers like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Hexcel, Blue Origin, and Stoke Aerospace.
Regarding their long-term use of Verisurf, Ellis notes,“ Verisurf runs all of our inspection software; back when I worked for Hexcel, we did a lot of beta testing for Verisurf.
26 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS