Automated inspection solutions provide rich data capture on the shop floor, supporting quality assurance and process control and offering valuable insights for smarter manufacturing.
As manufacturing becomes increasingly data driven, the ability to rapidly capture large data sets for quality assurance, process control and product and process optimisation offers a competitive advantage in the age of smart manufacturing. Automated inspection systems are one of the most efficient and effective ways to capture the rich data sets you need to continuously optimise processes.
There are various ways to bring automation into your measurement processes. Common methods range from part-loading systems for traditional coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) right through to fully automated robot-based inspection cells using a variety of sensor types to digitalise large freeform parts. All offer highly repeatable, accurate measurement processes that accelerate the measurement process and give manufacturers greater insight into production outcomes.
Robotic and automated inspection: Key benefits
- Faster data acquisition and defect detection
Automation offers huge potential for productivity gains throughout production and inspection operations. An automated inspection system’s speed and flexibility can dramatically reduce measurement times compared to traditional inspection methods, so issues are detected and corrected sooner than ever before. - More data, better decision-making
Once operational, an automated inspection solution can continuously collect and process comprehensive data sets so that manufacturers can better understand and substantially improve production quality with fast or even automated decisions. With the support of advanced analytics tools, you gain deep insight for stakeholders across the business. - Better equipment utilisation
Robotic and automated inspection systems can be configured for 100% utilisation of equipment with no wait-time during loading and unloading, maximising return on investment. With inspection cycles running up to 24/7, throughput is exceptionally high, while offline programming tools ensure that equipment is always available to measure. - Configurable to almost any application
Automated inspection cells can be configured in several shop-floor locations with different sensors, software and robotic equipment to support one or many applications. Offline configurations are typically used for part sampling or supporting inspection from multiple production lines. Near-line configurations are ideal for larger batch measurements, while inline configurations enable 100% inspection for trend analysis and rapid issue resolution. - Gather insight for smarter manufacturing
Manufacturers today are looking for smart solutions that improve operations, increasing efficiency and gaining flexibility through automation. As emerging technologies like AI and machine learning change the potential of data leverage, automation and robotics are critical to both providing the quantities of data needed to drive smarter processes, and to utilising it to make processes more efficient and sustainable.
Automation without the complexity
Hexagon’s automated measurement systems are designed to remove the complexity from the planning, installation and operation of robotic and automated inspection cells so that every system delivers value. Our turnkey solutions provide rich data capture at the point of production with the ease and peace of mind of working with a single vendor. For simplicity, speed and convenience, standard solutions are available while for more specialized requirements there is extensive flexibility with Hexagon and third-party hardware components.
