In today’s manufacturing landscape, ensuring a supreme quality product is critical. As 95% of the users buy a product after checking the user reviews, businesses should promise product quality at all costs. Whether they are automotive parts, consumer electronics, or food products, industries need to strive to perfect every product they produce.
However, traditional quality inspection methods often come with limitations, including time-consuming processes, human error, and inefficiencies that can result in productivity loss and an increase in costs.
In light of this, several industrial enterprises are harnessing the power of trail-blazing technologies like AR in their manufacturing and quality inspection procedures.
From creating immersive AR quality inspection tools to ensuring seamless prototyping of products, AR has lifted manufacturing businesses to a new height. In this blog, I will uncover some insightful benefits and use cases of augmented reality for quality inspection.
The rise of AR has been remarkable. As per Fortune Business Insights, the AR market will attain a valuation of around $1.1 trillion by 2030. Thanks to its adoption in manufacturing, telecom, aviation, and other industries, it has seen utility in several applications. In quality inspection, AR addresses many inspection challenges.
Paper-based instructions lack real-time data. The workers could be reading an inspection manual printed months ago that may not have the recent changes made to the machinery or inspection process.
With the use of augmented reality, digital work instructions can be used for inspection. These work instructions can be easily updated in real-time by the experts. Further, they are readily available to all the workers on the floor, keeping them updated on real-time data and changes.
Quality inspection is a critical process. It requires every single and minor detail to be documented carefully. Due to repetitively doing the same task for an extended time, frontline workers may feel tired and commit errors while manually documenting the inspection.
With the use of AR, this extra step can be completely eliminated. Workers can get work instructions on potential errors just by scanning the QR code, leading to faster inspection and digital documentation on the spot.
Traditional ways of inspecting products in manufacturing were complicated. Therefore, they weren’t fit for workers with limited skills. With the use of AR, modern-day product inspection methods do not require advanced skills.
The software-based inspection process has a simple learning curve that significantly reduces training and skill gaps.
After the challenges, let’s analyze ways in which AR is helping tech giants and manufacturers ensure the quality of their products and services.
Augmented Reality for Quality Inspection offers enhanced visualization by overlaying digital information onto physical objects, aiding inspectors in identifying defects or meeting specifications in real-time. AR quality inspection utilizes augmented reality (AR) technology to enhance inspection processes. It overlays digital information onto real-world objects, aiding in quality control by providing real-time guidance, detecting defects, and streamlining workflows. This innovative approach improves accuracy, efficiency, and reduces errors in manufacturing and other industries. Moreover, AR can be utilized to offer detailed step-by-step visual instructions aimed at ensuring product quality. It can also assist quality inspectors in visually inspecting finished parts or products to ensure adherence to standards.
As product defects can significantly impact customer experience and your business revenue, augmented reality can be your savior. It can help ensure product quality by visual defect detection.
As per the research, several studies and papers have identified deviations in products with augmented reality. AR is used for defect deviation in products by comparing manufactured products with digital AR overlays. Besides, there is also a brand that uses an AR tool that helped boost its quality control scope by a factor of 2.
Quality inspection is not just about visual inspection. Workers on the industrial floor should also take care of their assigned tasks. Several businesses have allotted their workers smart classes and digital work instructions to help them manufacture and assemble products with supreme care. The availability of proper step-by-step instructions with 3D visualization helps produce supreme-quality products.
Testing a product part for measurement deviations can be easily done with AR. But what if there is an issue in the final product? With the use of AR, you can also check the functioning of the product to some extent.
Here is an excellent example that would be helpful for product quality managers and supervisors who check the final product quality. Nascote Industries is one of the prime producers of motor vehicle parts and accessories. The brand leveraged the power of AR to ensure that soft connections like an electrical plug are properly plugged into its machine parts.
The brand used an AI-backed visual inspection capabilities method named step check that automatically identifies loose connections.
These are the primary areas of augmented reality inspection. Now, let’s take a quick look at its benefits!
Augmented Reality (AR) offers several benefits for quality inspection across various industries. Here are some key advantages:
The primary benefit that many industry experts believe AR has in product inspection is hands-free operations. In a manufacturing company, countless products need testing, effectively and swiftly. Therefore, manufacturers enable their workers to use smart glasses and headsets to speed up quality inspection and other processes.
You just have to place the product in their view, and they will scan it to view the defects, if any.
There are several industry experts who have witnessed exceptional operational efficiency amplification in their industrial processes. With the use of AR, companies have seen a 46% reduction in time to complete tasks. Similarly, with the use of AR, quality inspection has also improved.
Smart instructions and smart headsets have allowed firms to produce and test products faster.
Other than work instructions, AR can also be used to view 3D models of machines and their parts. With the help of AR software, you can view 3D CAD designs of the machines and compare them with the actual products. For example, you can view the output machine in the environment in which it will be working.
This live viewing of 3D models can help in better visualization. Besides, manufacturers can carefully inspect the machine’s size and dimensions for quality. 3D models are also useful in prototyping.
Several firms across the world have used AR to its full potential for quality inspection. Here is an elaboration on some inspiring case studies!
One of the world’s top technology companies leverages AI’s power to ensure the quality of their products. In partnership with Skill Real, an augmented reality (AR) technology provider, Siemens developed a solution to empower their production line efficiency.
The solution has several innovative features, such as Integrated AI and computer vision technology, Digital twin alignment with AR visualization, Sub-mm accurate AR and 3D measurements, etc. Combining all these features helps the brand negate bad quality products from the process.
With the help of computer vision, AI, and sub-mm accurate inspections, real-time alerts on deviations and quality issues ensure efficient production with high-quality products.
Nascote Industries is a division of Magna International that focuses on developing motor vehicle parts and accessories. As supreme quality is the company’s primary motive, they have used trail-blazing AR technology solutions to ensure optimum product quality.
The brand used AR accompanied by Step Check, an AI-backed visual inspection method. The method enables Nascote Industries workers to look for any soft part issues, such as a loosely connected plug. The method automatically detects such a plug and indicates it to the workers. This ensures zero bad quality products leaving the manufacturing plant.
Porsche is improving a solution that ensures supreme quality products with AR quality inspection. Porsche has developed a secure environment, Inno Space, for quality management work.
The Porsche solution’s AR look and feel test enables quick detection of product deviation from its ideal AR model. The tablet app superimposes a CAD image of the product on the actual component to make flaws or deviations immediately visible to the workers. The brand is still developing this solution further and has implemented it at each stage of the production process.
The integration of Augmented Reality into quality inspection processes marks a significant step forward in ensuring precision, efficiency, and compliance. As industries continue to embrace the potential of AR, the demand for seamless workflows becomes paramount. With Plutomen Workflow, industrial enterprises can seamlessly integrate AR technology into quality inspection processes.
Designed to provide trailblazing utility, Plutomen Workflow makes quality assessment, training, and product assembly a breeze. The tool enables you to create interactive AR work instructions that help workers closely monitor every step they take. As it enables workers to see the instructions directly on their smart glasses display, they can work hands-free and assemble or check each machine part as per step-by-step instructions.
This ensures supreme product quality, zero workplace mishaps, and better process efficiency.
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With 10+ years' experience of Hiren Kanani has helped Plutomen ensure smooth communication between the company and the client for swift project delivery with fewer iterations. He is CTO & founder at Plutomen.
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