Ideally, with the current prevalence in the use of Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T), datums need to be coordinated (i.e., made identical) throughout the manufacturing process and the measurement system and this needs to be established very early in the APQP process. Initial responsibility for this may lie with the product design engineer, dimensional control, etc. depending on the specific organization. When datum schemes do not match throughout a manufacturing process, particularly in the measurement systems, this leads to a situation where the wrong things may be measured, and there may be fit problems, etc., leading to ineffective control of the manufacturing process.(Datum Coordination)
There may be times when a datum scheme used in a final assembly cannot possibly match that used in a sub-component manufacturing process. When such is the case, it can be established as early as possible in the APQP process so that all team members understand possible difficulties and conflicts that may lie ahead and have every opportunity to do something about it. During this process, different datum schemes may need to be explored in order to understand the impact of these differences.
Certain commodities present features which can yield more problems than others, such as camshaft centering, or other round, cylindrical or tubular characteristics. For example, a camshaft must be manufactured on centers but the important product features are in its lobes. One method or datum scheme may be required for manufacturing whereas another scheme is required for measurement of the final product measurement.
Prerequisites and Assumptions
Before discussing the development of a gage supplier, it will be assumed that issues such as “correct” engineering product design(GD&T) and “correct” process design (one which allows for measurement at the proper time and location in the process) have been resolved. However this should not detract from consideration of these issues with appropriate team members early in the APQP process.
It is assumed that the gage supplier will be involved with the APQP process, a team approach. The gage supplier will develop a clear appreciation of the overall production process and product usage so that his role is understood not only by him but by others on the team (manufacturing, quality, engineering, etc.).
There may be slight overlap in some activities or the order of those activities depending on the particular program/project or other constraints. For instance, the APQP team without much input from a gage source may develop certain gage concepts. Other concepts may require the expertise of the gage source. This may be driven by the complexity of the measurement system and a team decision as to what makes sense.
source Datum Coordination : Analysis of measurement systems
