PILOT CASE
Volkswagen Autoeuropa
Vehicle body shop and final assembly demonstrator
Pilot Description
The pilot will focus on car alignment, which translates into ensuring the correct gaps and flushes values throughout the production process. The gap refers to the horizontal distance between the panels being measured, while the flush is related to the alignment of the two surfaces. The gap and flush measurements are carried out at several stages along the production line, to inspect the fitting and alignment between two surfaces, for instance to check the alignment of the tailgate or the correct assembly of the rear lights.
The main objective of the VWAE pilot is to correlate and predict process faults and thus allowing real time interventions in order to prevent the generation of defects related to gap and flush and their propagation to down-stream processes.
Equipping the operators in the final assembly with measurement systems able to automatically collect data and analysing the data with those coming from the earlier automatic measurement stations of the body shop area, will allow a better control of the whole production process, by adapting the final assembly stations based on the complete set of data collected in previous processing stations.
This will increase efficiency and reduce re-work by avoiding re-alignment operations, saving therefore time and reducing costs and waste.
Expected Goals
- Reduce the number of products needed to be aligned by 10%
- Improve the production costs avoiding alignment operations by 15%
- Improve the time that the operator needs to verify the product by 10%
Problem definition
For a vehicle assembly line the main quality characteristic is the correct geometrical position of all assembled parts, such as the tail gate, the doors and the lights. The alignment of the car is not only important for aesthetic reasons but also for aerodynamics, thus having a significant impact on fuel efficiency or noise perception, as examples.
Therefore, these two controls are considered very important and mandatory from a quality point of view and for this reason they are measured at different stages of the process. For each stage, specific requirements are defined and strictly controlled.
Currently, the gaps and flushes are measured automatically at several steps of the manufacturing process in the body shop area when the metal sheets are not painted yet, while in the assembly area they are measured at different stages, but manually by the operators.
Identified challenges
- The amount of geometrical complexity and the demanding quality requirements requires a deep understanding of the data. The inclusion of pre-processing and analysis of data collected at several different stages, enabling the correct correlation of data at the multi-stage level and providing recommendations on the points to be checked, are the major challenge of Volkswagen Autoeuropa pilot.
- Other significant challenge will be the introduction of a new portable, automatic measuring instrument to aid the operators in the gap and flush inspections at the assembly are, as well as allowing the automatic collection of these data, which were previously not recorded. This new instrument has to ensure a good ergonomics (easier handling and positioning of the instrument on the measurement locations), as well as, be compliant to industrial IT security standards.
Impact from openZDM technologies
In the context of the openZDM project, the pilot at Volkswagen Autoeuropa aims to improve the manufacturing process by identifying potential defects and trends in real-time to prevent their propagation to downstream processes.
The pilot is focused on the alignment operations, which are mainly based on the measurement and control of gaps and flushes in parts of the vehicle.
The quality characteristic of the geometric position of all assembled parts is essential to meet the quality standards of the vehicle. In body shop and final assembly production areas, gap and flush checks are carried out on the 100% of the production to confirm the fit and alignment between two surfaces
Currently, gaps and flushes are measured automatically in the body shop and manually at the end of the assembly line by operators using manual calipers and feeler gauges that do not allow for data storage and therefore for correlation of data among different stages of the production.
The available commercial manual vision-based sensors to measure gaps and flushes, have not been successfully used in Final Assembly of the production line, due to their metrological performance and ergonomics, mainly caused by the variety of surface properties, such as semi-transparent plastic and painted car bodies.
The introduction of an effective portable laser sensor will overcome these limitations and enable the continuous collection of data along the different stages of the production line. This will enable an integrated vision of automated and manual measurements by robots and human operators to collect and analyze data from the production line for early detection and prediction of defects, with aiming for achieving zero-defect production.
Discover the technology behind the Pilot
In the openZDM project, several Non Destructive Inspections systems have been developed and integrated, among which is a smart portable laser profilometer fully compliant with an industrial environment, named G3F.
Furthermore, the laser profilometer sensor includes AI models deployed on edge for the measurement of Gap & Flush of the transparent surfaces of the lights.
A great step forward in human centric manufacturing; the portable and wireless IIoT laser line profilometer was developed by U-Sense.it, an Italian startup providing smart sensing for human-centric manufacturing.
More than one G3F wireless device is now operational at the VWAE assembly line, enabling human operators to measure Gap & Flush, provide data to the openZDM platfrom and improve quality control in car Final Assembly operations.
