Benefits Of Vision For Manufacturing Automation
It is always very helpful for you to see exactly what the results are after a product
has passed through each work cell in an automated production line. The vision of a correctly completed product at each stage of its manufacture will give assurance that the quality of the product is high and the manufacturing process is consistent. The benefits that apply to other phases of production automation also apply to vision for manufacturing automation capability. Vision capability for production automation can do boring, repetitive tasks a lot faster than ay human can. The accuracy of this vision is much better than the human eye in that it does not get tired nor does it make mistakes when trying to catch inaccurate assembly of products or other miscues in production. The positive effects of vision for manufacturing automation will increase the productivity of the production line and improve customer satisfaction by creating more consistently accurate products. Most manufacturing operations that convert to vision systems from manual operations gain significant increases in accuracy that more than offset the cost to go to the vision systems. The goodwill established with customers alone is worth the cost. The zero defects for all products produced helps to create longer term relationships with customers.Defining a consistent system of vision for manufacturing automation will assist management in taking a closer look at the manufacturing process overall. A full examination of the process will be required so that the most effective vision system possible can be installed. The work done by each work station will need to be reviewed to determine where the best view of the vision for manufacturing automation system should be set up. A very significant benefit of the vision system is the fact that it can be portable. This means that it is easy to configure a vision system to work effectively at any location on any production line with just a few steps. The portability of vision must be taken into consideration during the system design so that the fullest capability can be realized.
To have the ability for vision to work with a single work station and not be able to enjoy capabilities at other locations makes for an easy design. It would be a good idea for management to consider what can be gained by adding the incremental cost that would be incurred to have fully portable vision ability on the factory floor. Knowing that having vision capability for an increased number of production jobs that will help yield higher quality in the products produced should be a great incentive. It is up to management to decide how much increase in profit might be returned for the given amount of increase in cost of portable automation.
Security concerns for product defects can also be a driving force in whether vision systems might be portable or even be installed at all on work stations on the production line. The production facility that makes airplane parts or automobile parts must factor in the part defect issue when setting up vision for manufacturing automation. These types of production facilities must endeavor to have zero defects for the parts that are produced, which makes the use of high quality vision systems mandatory.
Usually the vision for manufacturing automation system that would be used would return monochrome images of the manufacturing process. In most cases this type of image is adequate for the job that needs to be done. In some cases, however, there might be a need for color images to be returned to get the job done correctly. If the color of the product is a major attribute that is desired by the customer, then a color vision system would be required in its production. If there is a need to evaluate the uniform distribution of the color that is being examined, then there would be need for a color vision system. It is obvious that color vision systems would be required mainly if the perception of the quality of the product by the customer is closely related to an exact color.
Vision systems are often used for the reading of bar code labels in production for various reasons. Sometimes manufacturers elect laser systems and at other times use camera vision systems for this function. It is important to know the differences between these two to decide which is the best for any given application. The laser system may require a set size of label in order to be effective, while the camera system can work with various size labels to do a very effective job. The smaller labels that can be used by the camera system are usually easier to apply which can result in a reduction in cost. It is important for management to make a decision about the vision system for manufacturing automation based on the overall capability of the system and what are the characteristics that it needs to give to production.
by: John Mitchell