The Role of Automation in the Automotive Industry

Information Management: Automating data collection in an MES can replace costly, time-consuming and potentially error-prone manual data collection. Data can be displayed in dashboards and as KPIs for better decision making and consistent performance measurement. Production data can also be used for regulatory compliance and warranties, while genealogy and traceability can help limit the scope of recalls and shorten containment response times.

Integration Gateway: An MES also enables integration between plant-floor and business networks. This is the key to bridging historically separate information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) systems to create The Connected Enterprise – a unified network architecture that connects the people, processes and technologies across the entire organization, to shorten time-to-market, lower total cost of ownership, improve asset utilisation, drive plant-floor efficiencies and enhance enterprise risk management.

Augmented Reality

Automotive manufacturing consists of hundreds and even thousands of steps, andwith the business’ bottom-line at stake,it is critical to help to ensure that there are no mistakes in between.

Augmented reality (AR) delivers more efficient and effective ways of looking at digital information within the physical world. In factories, data from automation and control systems, secondary sensors, and asset management systems are collected and represented as a digital twin, a 3D virtual real-time representation of the physical systemswhich includes important monitoring and diagnostic data about each machine or process. Workers can check on the actual workings and real-time performance data of the physical systems remotely, reducing manpower costs.

By attaching relevant information to the physical location where it will be best observed and understood, AR interfaces deliver just the right information the moment it’s needed to factory workers on assembly lines, reducing errors, enhancing efficiency, and improving productivity. Intelligent Conveyance

In a typical automotive assembly plant, chain conveyors, roller-beds and skillet conveyors often run at fixed speeds and pitch, and theconveyance system is continuously consuming electricity and cannot accelerate, decelerate and precisely position a specific chassis to save time and energy. While some conventional systems may allow for variation in pitch or distance between the movers, in many situations that distance cannot be easily modified to accommodate multiple model types within one assembly line.

In addition, traditional conveyers are complex and made up of hundreds of wear components.These large, complicated solutions are not only difficult to modify but also prone to maintenance and costly downtime. The rotary motor technology used in conventional friction-based transfer systems also add inertia in linear applicationsand limit improvements in speed and acceleration.

New advances in independent cart conveyance – based on linear motor technology – are enabling significant performance gains.By enabling the end-to-end configuration of conveyor modules, anelectro-magnetic force iscreated whichpropels carriers at a much faster rate than traditional systems.And because linear motors have no contacting or wear components, maintenance is minimal.

Apart from linear motors, intelligent motion control is also the key to improved productivity, flexibility and sustainability. One of the latest innovations in the field is a “pitchless” carrier conveyance system that’s more energy efficient and 30 percent faster than conventional friction-based transfer systems. Manufacturers can program accelerations, decelerations, velocities and positions depending on the unique needs of their assembly line, allowing for greater use of industrial robots and other process equipment, making the overall system footprint much smaller than traditional systems.

Analytics, MES software, AR and intelligent conveyance are the bread-and-butter of efficient, scalable and flexible automotive manufacturing. These technology advancements allow auto manufacturers to improve quality, productivity, energy efficiency and responsiveness to market demands while reducingsystem complexity, potential points of failure and downtime, all of which are critical to a business’ bottom line.

Auto manufacturers who wish to harness the full potential of their supply chain can considerutilising solutions like these, which are not only scalable and customisable but also provide the foundation for future enhancements,allowingthem to adapt quickly to industry challenges andopportunities.