AS the manufacturing environment becomes increasingly competitive, fabricators become increasingly focused on productivity, which often takes one of two forms: produce correct parts without rework and prevent the scrapping of good parts. For tube fabricators, an attribute fixture is an increasingly important part of this focus. As the pressure increases to squeeze more value out of every expense dollar, tube fabricators rely increasingly on hard fixtures, partly because these tools provide in-process control as well as final audit verification. With a properly designed and constructed fixture, tube fabricators require little discussion or training to confirm the dimensional accuracy of the tube, whether it is a simple part or a complex assembly of several tubes. If the tube fits into the cavity, the part is correct; if it does not fit, it is not correct. It is as simple as that. The simplicity of a check fixture transcends language differences or cultural dissimilarities. The staffs of many factories and fabrication shops are multicultural and multilingual. No translation is required when fabricators use a hard fixture.
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