Digital transformation is taking every industry vertical by storm. The manufacturing space too, has embarked on this journey of change with increasing investments, research, and development of solutions. At Faurecia, we are implementing this change with standard solutions and technologies that are available in the market as well as those that we develop internally. With initiatives of digital transformation, there has also been a tremendous emphasis on data and how to effectively leverage the available data while also acquiring data for future initiatives to result in significant data-driven decisions. In this context, the most challenging aspect is discerning which data is useful, especially with the availability of huge amounts of unchartered information.
We believe that the presence of a standard ERP system across all sites is key in identifying nifty information. It also becomes important to bring various subsets of data under a single canopy to drive value-based business operations. With our major focus in manufacturing, we have put together visualization tools to have a clear understanding of the obtainable data in manufacturing sites and utilize the data to improve the quality of the throughput. The shift in the manufacturing space from legacy methodologies to a more modern outlook is happening only because of data and its appropriate use but is greatly owed to the disruptive technologies, including AI, neural networks, and predictive analytics. Apart from this, a perfect combination of process engineering, mechanical engineering, and IT, along with the right algorithms, plays a crucial role in analyzing the available data and predict business performance.
Improving Machine Vision and Automation within Manufacturing
In the manufacturing space, machine vision is an important aspect that ties together technology and methods for imaging-based scrutiny and analysis of mechanical applications, including, automatic inspection, process control, and robot guidance. In enhancing machine vision within manufacturing units, Faurecia has embarked on two major initiatives. On the one hand, they provide a visual inspection that allows minute scrutiny of quality defects, like a scratch or a dent, as well as a close check and verification of the correct parts of the machine. An automated system backs this functionality of enhanced visual inspection with visual analytics. For this purpose, we have a computer that processes the images, understands it, and helps operators to identify the shortcomings and resolve those effectively, in spite of the varying degrees of complexities.