Tuesday 5th May 2026 Filling the gap in flange thickness measurement The newest addition to the Benchmark™ family – The Benchmark™ Flange Thickness Gauge As Sencon celebrates its 50th Anniversary in 2026, the company continues to lead the metal packaging industry by solving its most persistent technical challenges. In keeping with a half-century legacy of "world firsts," Sencon is proud to announce the launch of the Benchmark™ Flange Thickness Gauge, a highly accurate, contact-based instrument designed to bridge a critical gap in beverage can quality control. Solving a Long-Standing Industry Challenge For years, manufacturers have lacked a reliable method for measuring flange thickness—a dimension critical to seaming performance and can integrity. While non-contact gauges have successfully measured flange angle and width, thickness has remained a manual, often inaccurate process. Sencon’s new Benchmark™ gauge provides the industry’s first high-precision solution, utilizing a Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) with 1mm ruby tips. This contact-based method, paired with a manual horizontal loading system, ensures that no load is applied to the can, preventing lacquer distortion and ensuring absolute measurement accuracy. Key features of the new gauge include: Exceptional Precision: With a measurement range of 0 to 0.3mm and an accuracy of +/- 2 microns, the gauge provides reliable and repeatable results. Intuitive Operation: A 9-inch touchscreen HMI offers a user-friendly interface. Users can define multiple measurement points around the flange, and a sensor detects if a can is loaded, preventing erroneous measurements. Versatile and Adaptable: The gauge accommodates a wide range of can sizes with quick-change, tool-free inserts that are conveniently stored within the gauge itself. Robust and Reliable: The robust design minimizes operator influence, ensuring consistent measurements across shifts. A spring-loaded gimbal in the loading mechanism helps maintain can concentricity during rotation, further enhancing accuracy. Comprehensive Data Management: Results are displayed on the integrated screen, with a tabular page showing the most recent 50 batches. User-programmable pass, fail, and warning bands, along with password-protected user levels, ensure data integrity and prevent unauthorized changes. Batch results can be exported via an RS232 port for further analysis. Independent by Choice. Innovative by Nature. In an era where many competitors are being consolidated into large industrial groups, Sencon remains ‘independent by choice’. This independence allows Sencon to be ‘innovative by nature’, focusing entirely on the specific needs of canmakers rather than corporate expansion. "Historically, flange thickness has been a blind spot in the laboratory, and we knew the industry needed a better way to verify this specification. As an independent company, our engineering priority is to solve these specific shop-floor problems with reliable, repeatable tools."Richard Craddock, Sencon UK Managing Director For more information about the SI6600 Flange Thickness Gauge, please contact your regional Sencon office or agent. Product details are available here.