Managing Anisotropic Shrinkage and Restraint Fixturing in Polymer Metrology
Polymer metrology requires force-controlled restraint fixturing and thermal conditioning to isolate mold geometry from anisotropic shrinkage and sag.
Landed Inspection Cost
Meaning
Total expense associated with verifying the quality of a part, including the labor, equipment time and transport to the testing site. Landed inspection cost factors into the total cost of ownership for a manufactured component. It accounts for the overhead of the quality department relative to the unit volume.
Expense Calculation
Financial models often miss the hidden costs of quality by focusing only on the purchase price of a component. Determining the landed inspection cost requires adding the depreciation of metrology tools to the hourly rate of the technicians and any specialized gases or power consumed during the test. For large parts, the cost of moving the item to a specialized laboratory can exceed the cost of the test itself.
These figures allow procurement officers to compare the true value of different suppliers.
Resource Allocation
Management uses these cost figures to decide whether to bring testing in-house or to use a third-party laboratory. Landed inspection cost helps identify parts where the verification effort is disproportionate to the risk of failure.
Budget Impact
Annual quality budgets are built on the expected volume of parts and the known price of checking each one. Tracking the landed inspection cost ensures that the quality department remains profitable or stays within its operational funding limits. If this cost rises, it may be time to automate the inspection process.