Quality control is one of the most important steps in auto manufacturing, reducing waste, reducing costs, and ensuring customer satisfaction. As important as quality control is to the process, it can often be expensive, time consuming, and somewhat ineffective. Quality control was subject to a greater degree of human error, with inspectors marking flaws manually with a pen and then making notes.
BMW, in partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute in Karlsruhe, Germany, has developed a solution. They call it the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” as it merges the virtual and real world. Using this system, completed bumpers are sent to a quality control station where, using gesture recognition technology similar to that developed for video games, an operator points out defects in the bumper by pointing to them.
The new technology is an infrared light system that projects a grid over the bumper while a pair of 3D cameras monitor the grid and recognize and record gestures. Operators point to flaws as the system maps the coordinates of each mark, and if no flaws are found, operators make a wiping motion to indicate the bumper is flawless. This decreases the number of operator errors, and makes the inspector’s job much easier.
The new technology is currently being tailored for production purposes after having undergone a successful pilot program. BMW of Freehold invites you to visit our showroom today to learn more about this exciting new technology that will increase quality and decrease costs. Call or contact us online for more information or to schedule a test drive in one of our new BMW vehicles.
Image: BMW
