Increasing demands on quality assurance in production present many companies with challenges. At Endress+Hauser, this task is mastered through the use of machine vision technologies. The image processing software MVTec Merlic serves as a digital assistance system that supports manual assembly and detects errors at an early stage.
Industrial image processing offers diverse possibilities to support automation. An exciting use case where the technology is applied with great added value can be found at the Swiss company Endress+Hauser. There, industrial image processing does not replace employees, but works hand in hand with them. Due to the very high variance of the components, complete automation is not possible. Nevertheless, the integrated machine vision software MVTec Merlic significantly increases the quality assurance of the assembly process by displaying all relevant information for component assembly to the production employee, subsequently checking this information, and documenting the quality.
Julius Krause, who works in industrial engineering at Endress+Hauser, explains that the introduction of machine vision aims to relieve employees of strain and maximise product quality. Before the transition, quality assurance measures were carried out through double checks and additional testing. The new technology now enables rapid and contact-free inspection in real time.
Benefits of image processing software
The decision for Merlic was made due to its flexibility and the possibility of using it without programming skills. This makes integration into existing systems easier and reduces the training effort for employees. Merlic uses AI-based technologies such as semantic segmentation and object detection to detect errors and confirm the correct execution of process steps.
Another advantage is the easy integration into the existing setup at the assembly workstation. A height-adjustable table with a camera accompanies the worker during the assembly of flow meters. The camera reads barcodes containing information about the assembly process and displays instructions to the worker on a screen. This ensures that all steps are carried out correctly and consistently.
Endress+Hauser plans to further expand its use of Merlic. In the next phase, the software is to autonomously read barcodes and retrieve information in order to further automate the assembly process.
Source: Endress+Hauser
