New System Delivers Custom Noncontact Displacement Sensors Quickly

July 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Lion Precision’s lead times for custom capacitive and eddy-current displacement sensors were reduced by as much as 80% by a new system called “CUSTOM.”  The  “CUSTomer-Oriented Manufacturing” system improves communication and project tracking through sales, design engineering, and manufacturing. According to Don Martin, company president, “Our stated purpose is to ‘work with customers to provide optimized sensing solutions,’ and that is something we’ve always done. We just took a step back and looked for ways to improve what we were already doing.”

Over half of the company’s orders are customized in some way.

As an ISO9001 registered company, continuous improvement and close examination of internal procedures are standard practice. Brooks Moening, manufacturing manager, led a team of representatives from each department to develop CUSTOM. Describing the new system, Moening says, “Rather than three separate systems with inputs and outputs between each department, we created a single custom order system managed by a single person from beginning to end. No need to a train different manager every time a project is handed off to the next department.”

To help customers get the best solutions as quickly and easily as possible, existing custom designs can now be viewed on the company’s website. Users can browse for an existing design that may be a good fit for their application. Using an existing design reduces cost and lead-time associated with developing a uniquely new design. Or an existing design can be used as a starting point for further modications which may also reduce cost and lead-time.

Custom orders can involve simple changes like probe cable length or modification of calibration parameters to enhance one specific aspect of sensor performance; moderate changes like modification of probe size and shape to fit a unique space; or complete custom systems with entirely unique probe designs and custom electronics.

The company has created a new website section dedicated to the CUSTOM system at:
http://www.lionprecision.com/customSensors (note the capital “S”)

In 1958, Lion Precision was the first company to provide capacitive displacement sensors to industry. The company has expanded its product offering to include eddy-current displacement sensors and some application specific sensors for the machine tool, packaging and PCB industries. The company is focused on assisting users in sensor implementation by providing expert guidance and optimized systems including custom designs.