How Creaform shaped our business and the metrology industry

Iain Caville

Founder Director

Measurement Solutions Limited

Andrew Tagg

Managing Director

Measurement Solutions Limited

Iain

Our aim at MSL is to provide UK manufacturing organizations with innovative solutions for measurement and quality applications. When I first discovered the Creaform HandySCAN 3D, the options for performing measurements were limited to high-end metrology. Anything else required the intervention of experts or was impractical for volume measurement.

However, in 2005, I came across this French guy with a handheld camera system. I wondered what he was doing. When I realized he was 3D scanning, my immediate thought was « wow » and « how ».

“I had seen 3D scanning before, but nothing like this—handheld, portable, and fast. The part didn’t need to be fasted down to a permanent table and it was incredibly easy to use. This was metrology, but not as we knew it!”

Association with a disruptor to traditional and outdated competition

Andrew

On my side, I was looking for an association with a progressive, innovative technology OEM with an eye on the future. I had seen Creaform from a distance for a while and then, more recently, their demos started to make a sensation in trade shows, redefining what the word portability really meant. From that time, I believed in the future of Creaform as a disruptor to traditional and outdated market competition.

There was nothing else available on the market like this

The original HandySCAN 3D brought to the market the ability to measure more parts, more frequently, and more easily. Customers could now measure smarter by using 3D scanning as an additional tool to traditional CMMs.

The progressive solutions for the next industrial revolution

Creaform brought portability to dimensional metrology. With this breakthrough, susceptibility introduced by vibration, environmental changes present on shop floors, and external mounting effects on accuracy could be eliminated. Target acquisition was a game changer. They could offer a versatility that was impossible to get with tripods and magnetic mounts.

The definitive name for handheld 3D scanning

Like the Dyson vacuum cleaner, the iPhone mobile, and the Tesla electric car, the HandySCAN 3D is now the universal name for handheld 3D scanners throughout the world. Likewise, is it any wonder there are so many lookalike scanners emerging onto the market, clearly recognizing Creaform’s superior ergonomics and technology? After all, isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery?

By offering a disruptive technology to traditional metrology, Creaform showed the industry how to put measurement capability in the hands of the people who needed the information and to be smart by measuring shapes and forms rather than simple linear dimensions.

“The impact Creaform has made on the dimensional metrology industry is enormous.”