CogniTens, a leading provider of comprehensive dimensional measurement solutions, in partnership with its systems integration partner InspectionAir Gauge announced today that Ogihara America Corporation, a leading US based Tier1 supplier to the Automotive industry will expand its successful implementation of CogniTens solutions to include OptiCell as part of a fully automated dimensional measurement system. This system will be employed within Ogihara’s manufacturing and quality operations throughout North America. InspectionAir Gauge and CogniTens will provide Ogihara with a turnkey system that will initially be located at Ogihara’s Howell based facility in Michigan US.

Following the successful implementation of CogniTens Optigo based solutions at Ogihara’s US based facilities; Ogihara's management decided to leverage its experience and relationship with CogniTens & InspectionAir Gauge and take the level of integration to the next stage – by fully automating the dimensional measurements of automotive parts and assemblies using advanced non-contact gauging technology from CogniTens. This is expected to have positive impact on the existing product development, engineering and QA processes. The Opticell solution enables Ogihara to provide fast and meaningful dimensional information to their customer, meeting the highest quality standards and ensuring that Ogihara supplied parts, conform to subsequent assembly operations at the OEM's customer facilities.

Based on Ogihara’s requirements for the highest level of operational flexibility possible CogniTens together with its partner InspectionAir Gauge will deliver a fully automated and standardized OptiCell footprint for providing rapid dimensional results for closure sub-assemblies on multiple vehicle programs. The standardized OptiCell configuration provides tight integrations of sophisticated robotics technology, operator-machine interface as well as cell automation and control devices such as rotary tables and flexible holding fixtures. This integrated approach accommodates the maximum number of parts and assemblies, while minimizing the costs associated with making changes and providing maintenance. Additionally, it allows parts and assemblies to be easily adapted to specific GD&T requirements.

The OptiCell’s clean cell design and productionized measurement technology allows easy operation directly within the assembly bay area on the production floor and fits nicely into common automotive production processes. The new Ogihara OptiCell is already scheduled to support a new vehicle program by a major North American OEM to which Ogihara will be providing decklid, hood and door sub-assemblies.

“Implementing OptiCell is a major step forward towards realizing Ogihara’s vision of moving from traditional gauging systems to highly flexible and integrated measurement systems”, said Steve Peca, Executive Manager for Quality Systems at Ogihara America. “We’re certain this will help us to further improve production quality as well as benefit our OEM customers by providing them a rich dimensional data set necessary to make critical and timely manufacturing decisions” added Peca.

OptiCell’s production-oriented set of measurement technologies provides highly reliable full surface, edge, common features and cross section measurements for multiple parts during tryout and mass production stages. This makes it possible to remove variability from the process and supports daily quality and manufacturing decision making. According to existing customers and initial Ogihara analysis the OptiCell implementation is expected to considerably reduce checking fixtures costs, shorten the time required to correct deviations and deliver the first production run, thereby also reducing scrap and saving days on special functional build studies.

“InspectionAir Gauge embraces CogniTens solutions and Ogihara’s vision and firmly believes the integrated measurement direction is part of a rapidly growing automotive industry trend”, noted Ray Sparnaay, InspectionAir Gauge General Manager. “As a traditional Checking Fixtures company I am proud to cooperate with CogniTens in building OptiCells instead of the traditional gauges - this paradigm shift is very exciting and we're happy to be part of it".

“The willingness of Tier1 suppliers like Ogihara to share OptiCell’s rich dimensional part data with their OEM customer is changing the fundamentals of the OEM supplier business relationship", commented Ofer Sandelson, CogniTens President and CEO. “Throughout our close relationship with Ogihara we see how Ogihara is constantly thinking about what's best for their customer and the industry overall. We’re proud to take part in this journey and together with industry partners such as InspectionAir Gauge make our modest contribution to a strong North American Automotive industry”, added Sandelson.

About Ogihara America Corporation
Ogihara America Corporation is a subsidiary of the Japanese Ogihara Corporation, one of the largest independent automotive die manufacturers in the world today. Ogihara began its US production and assembly operation in 1987 and has been known since then as a leading Tier 1 supplier known for its exceptional product quality of automotive class A parts, assemblies and related body panels. Ogihara operates in the US from two major centers: Howell, Michigan and Birmingham, Alabama. Ogihara’s production facilities provide critical parts and assemblies to General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler as well as to several Japanese “transplants” across North America. As part of the Ogihara tradition both Ogihara America facilities along with more than a dozen other Ogihara facilities around the world share common processes for ensuring lean and streamlined operation. Common processes help Ogihara develop and manufacture more cost effectively while ensuring the best quality for the customer at all times. For more information about Ogihara America visit: www.ogihara.com

About InspectionAir Gauge
InspectionAir Gauge Limited was founded in 1963 in Windsor, Ontario Canada. InspectionAir is a world-class manufacturer of both attribute and variable inspection solutions catering to the Automotive, Aerospace and Medical industries. In 2003 InspectionAir joined CogniTens as a representative for both Optigo and Opticell products to address the shifting market away from the traditional fixturing for sheet metal and plastic automotive part validation. InspectionAir is one of three companies that make up the CET Group of companies. Canadian Engineering and Tool manufactures metal stamping dies and use an Optigo 200 as an integral tool in the die development process. The third company in this group, Trudie Limited is a world leader in the design and development of tooling for the Powder-metal products industry.

For more information about InspectionAir Gauge visit: www.inspectionair.com

About CogniTens
CogniTens is a leading provider of comprehensive dimensional measurement solutions, focused on improving engineering and manufacturing processes in the automotive and other manufacturing industries. Through solutions based on innovations in 3-D non-contact measurement technology, especially designed for manufacturing environments, CogniTens allows its customers to significantly improve product quality, shorten development cycles, and cut manufacturing costs. CogniTens’ solutions enable its customers to run efficient vehicle development processes and production launches. CogniTens is a privately held corporation headquartered in Israel, with offices in North America, Japan as well as representation and operations in other major automotive industry centers such as South America, Europe and East Asia including China and Korea. Our customers include global automotive OEMs, suppliers and line builders including: General Motors Corporation, Daimler Chrysler Group, Ford Motor Company, Toyota Motor Company, Honda Motor Company, Magna International, Mazda Motors, Kikuchi Co., Ogihara America Corporation, Hirotec Worldwide Group and others.

Company Contact:
CogniTens Ltd.
Tal Vagman
Marketing & Business
Development Manager
Tel: +972-3-5488222