User Report: The HECHT DesQ II Measuring Table at the Furniture Industry Training Factory in Löhne
The Furniture Industry Training Factory (Lehrfabrik Möbelindustrie) in Löhne (East Westphalia-Lippe) is a modern educational center equipped with a complete production line. It combines vocational and advanced training in furniture manufacturing with the latest technology.
The goal is to impart practical skills, technical knowledge, and digital competencies within the furniture industry—ranging from apprentices and career changers to skilled professionals. The training factory serves as the “third pillar” in the educational system, supplementing workplace and school-based training. It aims to help mitigate the shortage of skilled labor and secure quality standards within the region.
Requirements & Field of Application
The training factory demands high levels of accuracy, reproducibility, and documentation across all manufacturing steps. This is especially critical when producing parts that must fit precisely into furniture assemblies, such as shelves, back panels, connecting bores, or profiles.
Furthermore, students must become familiar with measuring techniques common in the industry—moving beyond simple tape measures to high-precision equipment capable of providing feedback on form deviations, borehole positions, or angularity.
Why the HECHT DesQ II Measuring Table?
The DesQ II measuring table from HECHT AG was selected for the training factory because it meets these exact requirements. The core advantages are summarized below:
Advantages of the DesQ II
| Feature | Description & Benefit for the Training Factory |
| 3-axis tactile measuring table with turret head | Allows for various measuring adapters (e.g., for checking dimensions, boreholes, grooves, or rebates). This offers students a wide spectrum of measurement applications found in real-world furniture production. |
| High precision & repeatability | Standard range: X / Y +/- 0.10 mm (typ. repeatability +/- 0.02 mm); Z-axis +/- 0.05 mm (typ. +/- 0.02 mm). This precision is vital in the furniture industry to ensure fit, particularly for glue joints, inserts, or visible edges. |
| Adjustable surface & space-saving frame | The inclined measuring surface and compact base frame allow for use in confined spaces. This ensures the table can be integrated into training areas without requiring significant extra floor space. |
| Intuitive operation & software support | 15″ touchscreen with HECHT DesQ II software, simple routines, target/actual comparisons, and PDF protocols or SQL database storage. Students learn both manual metrology and digital documentation/industrial QA. |
| Versatile measuring functions | In addition to length, width, and thickness, users can check radii, diameters, borehole positions/depths, angularity, and parallelism. This variety makes the table a central tool for quality assurance and teaching manufacturing tolerances. |
| Minimizing effort & error costs | Since many measurement steps are performed directly and reliably, the need for rework or scrap is reduced. For a training center, this is important to manage limited resources (material, time) effectively. |
Implementation in the Training Factory: Experience & Added Value
Practical Relevance: Instructors can set realistic tasks, such as inspecting parts with tight tolerances or simulating assembly preparation. Apprentices learn how measurement results are documented and evaluated—a decisive aspect of professional practice.
Strengthening Quality Awareness: Training heightens awareness of the importance of exact dimensions and geometric accuracy—not just for aesthetics, but for functionality, fit, material waste, and cost control.
Increased Efficiency in Training Workflows: The DesQ II allows for faster inspections and spot checks. Machine setups can also be verified before production starts without manual measurement of every part, making training processes more efficient.
Digital Connectivity & Documentation: Measurement protocols and data exports allow learning progress to be tracked. Inspections become transparent and traceable, which is essential for exams or comparative analysis.
Promotion of Technical & Digital Competence: Educators and students gain an understanding of software support, data management, and quality management—skills increasingly in demand in modern furniture companies.
Express Küchen decided early on to introduce HECHT measuring tables to elevate quality inspection to a new level. With the tactile measuring table from HECHT, the company made a decisive leap in process reliability and efficiency.
The Advantages at a Glance:
Faster inspection of components directly at the production line
Graphic display of measuring points – no more tedious manual measuring
Automatic documentation for traceability and audits
The Result: Significantly reduced setup times, lower material consumption, and less rework – a direct contribution to cost reduction and production reliability.
Conclusion
For the Furniture Industry Training Factory, the HECHT DesQ II is a cornerstone for increasing training quality. It realistically maps the requirements of modern furniture manufacturing while anchoring efficiency, precision, and documentation into everyday learning.
The measuring table delivers measurable benefits—in the truest sense of the word—helping to train the specialists of tomorrow to a level that meets the dynamic demands of the furniture industry in OWL and beyond.
