Ford is spending US$100m (EUR70m) on robotic plant laser inspection technology to improve fit and finish and reduce wind noise.
The system, which adds cameras and lasers to existing robots, was piloted at the assembly plant in Valencia, Spain, and then added at Saarlouis, Germany and Michigan (Focus) and Chicago (Explorer) assembly plants in the US. Eventually, it will be used worldwide.
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“Robotic laser technology gives us a degree of precision that we have never had before,” Ron Johnson, manufacturing quality manager, Ford of Europe, said in a statement. “It scans the dimensions of 500 key areas down to a 10th of a millimetre to make sure the parts fit perfectly and our cabins are extremely quiet.”
A robotic camera takes a picture of the opening and makes tiny adjustments to ensure that the door fits snugly. After the car is painted later in the production process, another robot with a camera checks the fit again, Reuters reported.
The new system will overcome problems that can arise when a worker manually installs a door on a car, Ron Ketelhut, the chief engineer on the project, told the news agency.
“That process requires a lot of manual finesse,” Ketelhut said, and a small gap in the seal can make for a noisy ride.
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By GlobalData“If the margin between the front door and the fender needs to be adjusted by two-tenths of a millimetre, the robot will say to adjust this one area by two-tenths of a millimeter,” Ketelhut said.
“Traditionally, with the manual system, we were always chasing the customer,” he said. “We knew we had dissatisfied customers, and we were just going back and telling the manual people to do better. With the robotic system we’re going to get out in front of the customer and give them what they want.”
Ford said the robots are programmed to recognise any minute deviations from the correct specification and, if any errors are found, will instruct the operator on the correct course of action. Human error is also reduced, as the machines are tuned to measure point specifications on the vehicle, whereas previously it was determined by an operator making a subjective judgment on whether fitment was accurate.
Ford added that wind noise is a primary consumer consideration when judging the quality of a vehicle and noted it already went to “great lengths” to minimise noise by pinpointing its source through other plant measures such as using machines to detect air leakage from cabin, NVH test chambers and coordinate measuring machines.
