Designed for the automotive industry - 360° SIMS intelligent online measurement solution

Over the past decade or so, automakers have had to choose from a variety of measurement options to improve product quality, reduce time-to-market for new models, and accelerate production. On the one hand, reliable metrology techniques and methods are used to measure, analyze and sample problems in the measurement or on-line; on the Other hand, once a quality issue is taken seriously, the online control system can quickly support on-site manufacturing, but only Provides limited accuracy and size information.

In fact, most manufacturers and suppliers use a combination of on-site and traditional measurement methods, but to some extent overlap and face the challenge of efficiency and repeatability.

At the same time, the emergence of other measurement technologies, such as non-contact optical scanning heads, enriches the traditional measuring machine sensors. These new non-contact scanning heads are only used for manual configuration, then semi-automatic measuring units, and for the automotive industry. Reliable applications, including automotive prototypes, sheet metal stampings and body-in-white measurements. In the long run, the use of online and fully automated measurement applications presents a challenge for traditional metrology methods.

Hexagon Metrology's newly released 360° Smart Inline Measurement Solutions (360° SIMS - 360° Smart Inline Measurement Solutions) can be fully integrated into the automotive production line, whether it is in production, trial operation or formal production. Manufacturer's demanding measurement requirements, complete 100% full-surface and key feature inspection for body, component, sub-assembly, help automakers get better online measurement performance, ensure high stability and high in the production process quality.

Building a bridge between measurement and process control

Complete 100% component and subassembly measurement, complete measurement work in the production cycle, complete 24 hours / 7 days operation mode in the harsh production workshop, fully integrated into the automated production line, real-time process control... Just a few of the many challenges. Based on deep technical accumulation and industry experience, Hexagon Metrology provides a professional solution for automotive industry customers to integrate metrology into automated manufacturing processes, providing a fast, rich and steerable process control method. Combining the previously separated metering with process control, the 360° SIMS intelligent online measurement solution combines advanced 3D metrology functions with process control techniques and methods to enable on-line or off-line process measurement and control.

The 360° SIMS intelligent online measurement solution is based on the following key technologies:

Industrial-grade robots as flexible sensor positioning carriers

Surface measurement using a photometric measurement system

360° SIMS-specific software package that provides operational measurements for use by people in different parts of the company

Integration into enterprise automation production lines, automation and plant control systems

Provides unique patented software to visualize and report massive data color difference diagrams

The 360° SIMS system configuration meets the needs of the appropriate environmental and target industry applications, including the robot with white light photometric sensors, powerful point cloud processing software, and the various automation facilities required for automated measurements. Provides great flexibility and scalability. The currently available configurations include online, on-line and off-line options to support customers' applications in the press, body shop and final assembly plants.

Online metering provides greater efficiency

In the development of the 360° SIMS intelligent online measurement system, it provides a number of patented technical innovations, including aligning and measuring tools for large-sized components, and innovative software tools for visualization and analysis of massive data. A fixed optical sensor is used to measure hidden features or independent key points on the body to complement the measurement task.

The solution is simple and can be automated in most cases, and the surveyor can monitor the entire measurement process with a simple training, and the simple visualization results can identify the source of the quality problem in a timely and accurate manner.

The 360° SIMS Intelligent Online Measurement System provides system-wide management based on enterprise-class servers. All measurement results are interrelated and provide measurement reports and analysis for different types of customers and downstream applications. Includes measurement and process color difference plots, trend plots, and VOD reports. Massive data analysis of measurement results, such as surface geometry, edges, feature lines, and section lines, helps people at the production site to quickly identify and resolve quality issues, enabling monitoring from new product launches to pilot production and stable production conditions. Provides a preview and comprehensive dimensional process control insight for the overall trend of production.

The future of the factory

Based on a previous application analysis, customers are shown significant improvements in efficiency, speed, problem resolution, and use of measurement data. In addition, it also includes capital, operational savings and flexibility in measuring multiple models, facilitating product upgrades and shortening the time-to-market for new products.

"With 360° intelligent online measurement solutions, we offer a new generation of measurement systems for the automotive industry to better meet their growing information insights and access to actionable information, thereby accelerating production start-up and quality monitoring. ," Giacomo Barilà, Director of Operations, Hexagon Metrology Automation Solutions. "This is a big step towards the digital factory of the future, and integrates Hexagon's powerful product technology to provide a fully automated high-speed measurement system for automotive OEMs and T1 suppliers, achieving new quality. Insight."