Taking product quality to the next level with visual inspection
Quality management in manufacturing is one of the most critical tasks to ensure products meet the required industry standards and customer expectations. Yet, manufacturers face numerous challenges that can affect their ability to maintain high quality. These include inconsistent quality of the material (stemming from multi-sourcing), increasing regulatory standards concerning product quality and the environment, rising product quality expectations, or simply the increased complexity of a product.
In this article, let’s explore how manufacturers can leverage AI and visual inspection to optimize product quality and create sustainable products for a thriving tomorrow.
Decoding visual inspection in the Digital Age
In manufacturing, thorough quality management requires a combination of technologies, processes, and strategies to enhance oversight and streamline operations. While many manufacturers already use quality management systems to ensure consistent product quality, these systems often fall short in providing continuous or real-time quality monitoring, as they may only support random, unscheduled quality checks.
New technologies such as visual inspection applications promise decisive improvements in assuring high quality levels.
A visual inspection application is a software tool that uses computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) technologies to analyze and assess visual data from images or video feeds. It’s designed to detect defects, anomalies, or specific characteristics in products or components during manufacturing or quality control processes.
Let’s take a look at some of the key features of this application:
- Image capture: The application captures images or video streams from cameras or sensors positioned at critical points in the production line.
- Real-time analysis: It processes visual data in real time to detect defects, measure dimensions or verify the presence of components.
- Machine-learning algorithms: This uses advanced algorithms to improve the accuracy of inspections by learning from historical data and user feedback.
- User interface: It provides an intuitive interface for operators to monitor inspection results, review flagged items and generate reports.
- Integration capabilities: The app integrates with existing manufacturing execution systems (MES) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for seamless data flow.
Taking quality control to the next level
Visual inspection applications play a key role in quality control processes across a range of industries. At Atos, we’ve applied this technology to check the quality of final products – for example, inspecting the quality of tires being mounted to trucks during assembly. Adopting this technology offers major benefits like cost savings and improved product reliability.
Here are a few other practical use cases:
- Manufacturing quality control: Inspecting finished products for defects, such as scratches, dents, or misalignments in automotive parts, electronics, and consumer goods.
- Assembly verification: Verifying that all components have been correctly assembled in products such as machinery, appliances, or electronics.
- Packaging inspection: Checking that the labeling of packaged goods meets quality standards and regulations.
The industries to benefit from visual inspection applications range from pharmaceuticals to automotive, and from machinery to food and beverage. The benefits for these industries lie in enhancing operational efficiency, quality control, and overall productivity.
Here’s how:
- Improved quality control: Besides identification of defects and anomalies at various stages of production, ensuring only high-quality products reach customers, this also provides consistent and standardized quality checks, reducing the variability associated with human inspections.
- Increased efficiency: The inspections can be accelerated because visual inspection applications can process images and data significantly faster than manual inspections.
- Cost savings: Visual inspection decreases the dependency on manual labor for quality checks, leading to lower labor costs in the long run. Early detection of defects allows for prompt corrective actions, reducing waste generated from defective products and rework.
- Enhanced accuracy and precision: Automated visual inspection systems can achieve higher accuracy and precision versus manual processes, especially in repetitive tasks, thereby eliminating human error in manual inspections.
- Flexibility and scalability: Visual inspection applications can be easily adapted to inspect different products or components, supporting diverse manufacturing needs. As production volumes increase, they can be scaled up to maintain quality without a proportional increase in inspection labor.
Besides the business advantages mentioned above, better product quality will also strengthen customer relationships by boosting customer satisfaction and building brand loyalty.
The future of visual inspection: Predictive quality and advanced functionalities
AI and machine learning is already employed in visual inspection applications for example in Atos`s low effort AI-based visual inspection template.
Nevertheless, both technologies will gain more momentum procuring for predictive quality applications, allowing manufacturers to predict quality issues and take preventive action before they occur. The adoption of 3D imaging technologies will enable more comprehensive inspections, allowing for the detection of defects that traditional 2D cameras may miss.
Advanced sensors, including infrared and hyperspectral imaging, will enhance the ability to assess materials and components for quality beyond visible light. Visual Inspection Systems will be capable of continuous monitoring of production processes, ensuring consistent quality control and minimizing downtime. This will also boost collaboration with other manufacturing systems, e.g. the integration with IIoT platforms provides better data sharing and collaboration.
Visual inspection will remain a critical component of modern manufacturing practices for years to come.
>> Facing quality issues and compliance challenges wearing you down? Let’s talk about how visual inspection applications can help. Connect with me today.
