Manufacturing Partner
Oberg Industries – Medical Division
A leading precision manufacturer of complex, high-performance components for the medical device industry, Oberg is committed to innovation, quality, and operational excellence through advanced manufacturing technologies.
Challenge
Oberg Medical’s manufacturing facility in Sarver, PA, produces precision implant components across roughly 30 different part numbers that share common geometric features. Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) inspection is a manual, labor-intensive process that presents opportunities for increased throughput and reduced operator dependency. Oberg sought to automate CMM loading and unloading to enable unmanned inspection operations from start to finish, while maintaining the flexibility needed to accommodate a wide range of component geometries.
Solution
A Penn State New Kensington EMET Senior Capstone team, mentored by the Digital Foundry’s professional engineering staff, partnered with Oberg Medical to design, build, and validate an automated CMM solution. Students had access to advanced manufacturing equipment, hardware, and software at the Digital Foundry, supported by our Technology Partners. The team delivered the project across four focused workstreams:
- Adaptive Fixture Design: Engineered a fixturing system capable of accommodating a range of implant component geometries, enabling a single setup to support multiple part numbers.
- Robotic Integration Simulation: Integrated a collaborative robotic arm with a simulated CMM to automate component transfers—loading parts from a preloaded fixture, initiating automated measurement cycles, and returning inspected parts to a holding fixture.
- End-of-Arm Tooling: Designed and validated a custom end effector capable of gripping and transferring precision medical components throughout the inspection sequence.
- System Validation: Demonstrated a repeatable, and flexible process concept through prototype testing, confirming consistent part handling and accuracy while minimizing manual intervention.
The resulting prototype demonstrated the automation sequence, robot retrieves a component from a staging fixture, simulates loading to the CMM, waits for the measurement cycle, and returns the inspected part, without manual operator involvement.
Impact
This Senior Capstone project culminated in May with the student team presenting their final design and a working prototype to Oberg Medical leadership. The project delivered on its initial objectives, demonstrating a viable path to engineering an unmanned CMM load and unload operation for a broad family of precision implant components. Oberg was pleased with the outcome and sees potential to advance the concept further within their operations. The Digital Foundry team will remain engaged beyond the student capstone to provide any additional engineering refinements Oberg would like to pursue. For Penn State New Kensington’s senior engineering students, the project provided a meaningful opportunity to engineer real-world automation solutions alongside industry professionals.
Penn State Student Team for Oberg project: Kaleb Schaffer, Karter Weitzel, Vaughn Gallicano, Shane Stefanik
“Working with the students was a great experience, they developed a unique and practical solution that provides a strong foundation for implementation, and Digital Foundry’s guidance and expertise were invaluable in supporting the team’s success.”
–Jackson Brining, Quality Engineer, Oberg Medical
