The Creation and Assessment of a Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility Study Exercise in a Metrology Class

A gage repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) study was implemented in a metrology class in an engineering technology program. An R&R can be a relatively confusing exercise for a student that is new to the concept of gage analysis. This is especially true for students that have limited knowledge of measurement tools and techniques. Care was taken to choose gages that could be analyzed in a straightforward manner. The selection of the type of parts that were to be measured during the exercise was also important. Parts were chosen such that the operators (students) were usually required to determine a specific, controlled method to orient the part to obtain the measured dimension or the results would not yield an acceptable gage analysis ratio. The part limit specifications have a direct bearing on the analysis results and were chosen to yield initial results that might require students to problem solve to improve the measurement technique to achieve an acceptable precision to tolerance ratio. The requirement for the students to improve the measurement process increased the likelihood of a satisfactory learning experience. A survey was created to enable assessment of the exercise. The survey included both quantitative and qualitative measures. Students were typically given the survey before and after the gage R&R exercises. Comparison of the pretest and post test results gave an indication of the relative merits of the exercise.