LAKE MARY, Fla., Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FARO, the world leader in portable 3-D measurement and imaging technology, announced that it has won the Defense Manufacturing Excellence Award from the National Center for Advanced Technologies (NCAT).

The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) assembled a team to improve manufacturing methods for Naval submarine tapers and carrier propulsion drive shafts.

The team consisted of the NCDMM, the Applied Research Laboratory of Penn State University, and FARO. Their solution included developing an advanced measurement system that dramatically reduced the in-process and final inspection stages for the shafts. FARO adapted the technology and software for the solution, which employed a FARO Laser Tracker that accurately mapped the entire surface of each taper while the shaft remained on the machine tool.

The solution reduced inspection time from 72 hours to 24 hours for a 66% reduction over the previous method and easily transitioned to multiple shafts and shipyards. The project resulted in more consistent inspection processes, longer shaft life, elimination of costly gauge masters, and increased flexibility to accommodate design changes -- all of which resulted in reduced run times and increased the shipyards cost savings up to $8 million.

About FARO

With approximately 18,000 installations and 8,600 customers globally, FARO Technologies, Inc. designs, develops, and markets portable, computerized measurement & imaging devices and software used to create digital models -- or to perform evaluations against an existing model -- for anything requiring highly detailed 3-D measurements, including part and assembly inspection, factory planning and asset documentation, as well as specialized applications ranging from surveying, recreating accident and crime scenes to digitally preserving historical sites.

FARO's technology increases productivity by dramatically reducing the amount of on-site measuring time, and the various industry-specific software packages enable users to process and present their results quickly and more effectively.

Principal products include the world's best-selling portable measurement arm -- the FaroArm; the world's best-selling laser tracker -- the FARO Laser Tracker; the FARO Laser ScanArm; FARO Photon Laser Scanners; the FARO Gage, Gage-PLUS and PowerGAGE; and the CAM2 Q family of advanced CAD-based measurement and reporting software. FARO Technologies is ISO-9001 certified and ISO-17025 laboratory registered.

Web site: http://www.faro.com/