Ensure Surface Quality with the STATOGRAPH Product Family

How are you ensuring the surface integrity of your components? In manufacturing industries like automotive, aerospace, fasteners, agriculture, and medical, even the smallest surface discontinuities, such as cracks, nicks, and laps, can create serious risks. A single missed defect can lead to part failure, safety issues, warranty costs, and unhappy customers.

Many manufacturers still rely on manual inspection methods such as Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI), Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI), and Dye Penetrant Inspection (DPI). These processes have been used for years, but their limitations are becoming harder to ignore.

• They are slow and create bottlenecks.
• They rely on human interpretation, which leads to inconsistent results.
• They need ongoing consumables and operator training.
• They are messy and require the use of powders and chemical dyes.
• Most importantly, they increase the chance of missed defects.

There is a better option. Eddy current inspection with FOERSTER’s STATOGRAPH product family offers a cleaner, faster, and more reliable way to verify surface quality.

Why It Matters: The Cost of Missed Defects

Traditional inspection methods no longer meet the reliability that modern production needs. Premature failures, customer returns, safety concerns, quarantined batches, and warranty claims can all be traced back to inconsistent surface inspection. As production volumes grow and tolerances tighten, manual testing introduces too much risk.

Automated eddy current testing removes this uncertainty. When used in your quality process, systems like the STATOGRAPH provide clear advantages.

• Objective pass or fail decisions
• High throughput that keeps up with production
• Clean and chemical-free operation
• Lower long-term testing costs
• Better data that supports process improvement

Even a 1% scrap or rework rate can damage your margins. Manual testing may even reject good parts or allow bad parts to pass.

The FOERSTER STATOGRAPH product family helps prevent these issues. Utilizing proven eddy current technology, the STATOGRAPH systems detect surface discontinuities with a high level of precision and repeatability.

How FOERSTER Helps: The STATOGRAPH Product Family

The FOERSTER STATOGRAPH product portfolio includes multiple hardware and software tools designed to solve specific pain points in modern manufacturing. Below is a breakdown of how each system helps eliminate the shortcomings of MPI, FPI, and DPI while giving you superior detection confidence.

STATOGRAPH CM+ / CM

The STATOGRAPH CM+ and CM systems are designed for high-volume, automated production environments where speed, consistency, and connectivity are essential. They remove the subjectivity of manual inspection by using highly sensitive differential eddy current probes that deliver objective and repeatable pass or fail decisions. With a frequency range up to 10 MHz, they detect even small surface cracks without slowing production.

These systems are ready for modern manufacturing and support easy integration into connected production lines. Users can access the equipment from mobile devices, adjust parameters through an automated setup wizard, and connect through fieldbus or Profinet networks. A wide range of standard, flexible, and custom probes make it easier to test both simple and complex geometries.

Key advantages of the STATOGRAPH CM+ / CM include:

• High sensitivity and reliable defect detection
• Fast cycle times for inline inspection
• Network ready for Industry 4.0
• Compatible with many probe types for flexible test setups

STATOGRAPH TCL

The STATOGRAPH TCL is a compact and versatile solution for both automated inline inspection and manual testing of safety-critical components. It provides 100% eddy current inspection with a wide frequency range from 4 Hz to 20 MHz. This makes it effective for detecting cracks, pores, grinding burns, material separations, and hotspots without the use of chemicals or the variability of manual MPI, FPI, or DPI. The system is cost-effective, sensitive, and well-suited for manufacturers that need reliable defect detection in flexible test setups.

The STATOGRAPH TCL is easy to integrate and simple to operate. It supports automatic probe recognition, which loads the correct settings through a data chip, reducing operator error. . Touch-friendly software, setup wizards, multiple signal charts, and built-in report generation make the system intuitive for operators and reduce training requirements.

Key advantages of the STATOGRAPH TCL include:

• Full coverage for safety-critical components
• Wide frequency range for high sensitivity
• Flexible installation and automation options
• Easy setup and clear visualization for fast operator adoption

STATOVISION (Advanced Visualization & Pattern Recognition)

The STATOVISION is an advanced software tool that converts eddy current signals into clear, high-resolution C-scan images of the component surface. It is the ideal choice for parts with complex geometries such as drilled discs, grooved components, and multi-featured surfaces. The software helps users visualize flaws that are difficult or impossible to detect with basic eddy current systems. It provides strong visualization, precise defect location, and reliable suppression of unwanted signals.

The STATOVISION uses intelligent pattern recognition filters that remove interference from drill holes, grooves, chamfers, and other features. This allows true defects to stand out, even in areas that were once considered untestable. Users can also store raw data, compare scans, and identify trends such as tool wear. The software supports post-processing and generates reports in PDF, PNG, or CSV formats. This makes the STATOVISION a valuable tool for both inspection and long-term process improvement.

Key advantages of the STATOVISION include:

• High-resolution surface visualization
• Suppression of interfering contours
• Clear detection near drill holes and complex features
• Reporting and data tools that support process optimization

Proving Performance Through Application Studies

To ensure each solution meets the customer’s exact needs, FOERSTER offers full application studies in our Salem, Ohio, lab. Customers send in their actual components, and our team performs detailed testing to evaluate surface conditions, simulate real production scenarios, and confirm detection performance. These studies allow us to compare STATOGRAPH results with existing methods such as MPI, FPI, and DPI. In many cases, our systems detect flaws that manual tests miss.

Once testing is complete, we provide a detailed report, video documentation, and a recommended system configuration that improves speed, cleanliness, repeatability, and long-term cost efficiency. This gives manufacturers complete confidence that a FOERSTER solution will meet their quality and production goals.

An added advantage is that the Salem facility is also where we design and build our custom turnkey automated systems. This means everything happens in one place. Ideation, feasibility studies, system design, manufacturing, installation, and operator training are all done by the same team, using the customer’s actual parts. The result is a fully tailored solution that fits seamlessly into the customer’s production process from day one.

Actionable Takeaways: A Better Alternative to MPI, FPI, and DPI

Many manufacturers continue to rely on Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI), Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection (FPI), and Dye Penetrant Inspection (DPI). These methods are slow, messy, subjective, and expensive to maintain. The STATOGRAPH product family offers a faster, cleaner, and more reliable way to inspect surfaces and prevent escapes.

By choosing a system from the STATOGRAPH product family, you gain clear advantages, like:

• Improve Output: Faster test speeds help you keep up with modern production demands.
• Reduce the Risk of Escapes: Objective and automated decisions reduce human subjectivity and the shipping of flawed parts.
• Cleaner and Greener Operation: No chemicals, no powders, no fluorescent dyes, no cleanup, and no hazardous waste.
• Lower Long-Term Cost: Eliminate consumables, reduce operator time, and decrease scrap or rework caused by inconsistent manual testing. A massive cost savings for those who are sending parts to testing companies for manual testing.
• Scalable and Future-Ready: Industry 4.0 connectivity, web-based interfaces, advanced visualization, and modular test channels allow the system to grow with your production.

FOERSTER can prove this through an application study. We test your real components, confirm detection capability, and often reveal defects that MPI, FPI, and DPI do not catch. After the study, we recommend a solution that improves speed, cleanliness, repeatability, and cost efficiency.

If you are ready to move beyond manual testing, the STATOGRAPH product family can help you build a more reliable inspection process. Your components and your customers deserve the highest level of confidence.