inspection technology, along with the pressures of compliance with more rigorous standards.
However, as McKinsey points out, Europe trails behind North America in critical manufacturing skills areas, such as engineering, digital and analytics and manufacturing. According to their analysis, 51 % of North American employees possess the required skill levels in R & D, as compared with only 42 % percent in European companies – and when it comes to the critical skills needed to measure and determine quality, it get worse.
One of the main problems is the retirement of skilled employees and the lack of younger recruits to replace them. The UK will need a million engineers by 2030, according to research cited by the Society of Operations Engineers, as 20 % of the skilled workforce retires.
This does not promise speedy resolution of the inspection and metrology skills bottleneck unless the automotive sector invests in automation. But most OEMs, let alone their suppliers, don’ t have the right mix of experience and expertise required to programme and operate robotic scanning systems or the capital to invest in perfecting a system and tooling that could be redundant in 6 months.
Here, a number of technology advances are lowering barriers to entry in terms of cost, usability and flexible automation so that processes can be streamlined through democratisation of metrology.
Advances in 3D scanning
Thankfully, innovations in operator-friendly inspection technology are changing what is possible – certainly in vehicle manufacture. For large components, for instance, shopfloor operators without a background in metrology can use 3D scanning devices to conduct inspections to high tolerances.
These developments in 3D scanning are increasingly used to spot faults in anything, and operators need very little training – they just click and go, using
3D laser-scanning devices that work on reflective materials or vibrating surfaces.
This ability to pick up defects very quickly, and with minimal set-up time, improves delivery in everything from small components to bodywork and interiors. In the past, only key features could be measured. Today, laser scanning can measure key features with tens of microns accuracy and acquire millions of points per second, enabling the digitalisation of surfaces and model-based manufacturing traceability.
In the hands of manufacturing
Handheld scanners can achieve high resolution when used with a portable measurement arm or an absolute positioning system such as a laser tracker, or a very cost-effective optical tracking system when such high precision isn’ t warranted. Advances in software interfaces and plug-and-play sensor recognition means that anyone with basic training can set up and operate effective 3D scanning quickly wherever required on the shopfloor, taking the scanner to the part. Users can switch easily between scan settings optimised for specific types of measurement, and modern metrology software will recognise the change and process the acquired data correctly, adding to the versatility and ease-of-use of these solutions.
From a larger stand-off, operators can achieve safe, and high-accuracy inspection of fine edges and complex features, ensuring precise assembly. Optical tracking ensures perfect positioning at up to seven metres. For example, Hexagon’ s Hyperscan sensor can deliver 8.3 million points per second over a large area, whether hand-held or mounted for full automation. The sensor knows what it is looking at – such as holes – which reduces the manual input, and accelerates inspection whilst acquiring proper measurements the first time.
For larger components such as doors or battery packs, the same 3D scanners and tracking systems with a robotic arm to create a fully-automated quality inspection cell with significantly lower investment, bringing OEM-calibre automation to their suppliers.
Advanced inspection that’ s accessible to all
Robotic automation or quality inspection needs to be more accessible. Technologies such as laser scanning and optical trackers help to deliver robust metrologygrade measurement at a much lower cost. However, the CAPEX of integrating a cell and the hidden cost of robot programming make production changes far less agile and cost-effective.
The secret is offline programming of standardised components. Using a digital twin of a standardised cell that takes account of the above device’ s metrology capabilities and the robotic actuators – be that a gantry, arm, turntable, or combination.