Robots, artificial intelligence – and a human touch. How the Porsche plant in Leipzig ensures only the finest finishes leave the paint shop.
For decades, robots have been used to apply paint to new cars during manufacture, improving safety for employees while yielding the benefits of increased efficiency and more consistent paint application. But even with the precision and reproducibility of robot-applied finishes, vehicles still need to be visually checked in order to identify any potential paint defects.
Until relatively recently, these labour-intensive and time-consuming inspections would have to be carried out manually – and, even with the keenest of eyes, always with the natural risk of human error. With modern technology, however, this process in the paint shop at the Porsche plant in Leipzig has been significantly streamlined. Team members in the inspection area are assisted by an automatic defect detection system featuring two robots, although these examples are configured a little differently to their cousins on the painting line. Equipped with powerful sensors, these robot arms scan the entire outer surface of the body shell of every series-production car produced at Leipzig.
For decades, robots have been used to apply paint to new cars during manufacture, improving safety for employees while yielding the benefits of increased efficiency and more consistent paint application. But even with the precision and reproducibility of robot-applied finishes, vehicles still need to be visually checked in order to identify any potential paint defects.
Until relatively recently, these labour-intensive and time-consuming inspections would have to be carried out manually – and, even with the keenest of eyes, always with the natural risk of human error. With modern technology, however, this process in the paint shop at the Porsche plant in Leipzig has been significantly streamlined. Team members in the inspection area are assisted by an automatic defect detection system featuring two robots, although these examples are configured a little differently to their cousins on the painting line. Equipped with powerful sensors, these robot arms scan the entire outer surface of the body shell of every series-production car produced at Leipzig.
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MotorTranscript
00:00At the end of the painting process in the painting shop in Leipzig, the employees are supported by robots.
00:15Equipped with sensors, the robot arms scan the entire exterior of the body of each vehicle from Leipzig's mass production.
00:24A picture is taken every 2.5 mm, so that 100,000 pictures are created in a total of only 72 seconds.
00:32Subsequently, the pictures are evaluated by the automatic error detection.
00:37The painting is then examined for the smallest defects, which can occur, for example, due to dust in the painting process.
00:44Ten computers analyze the pictures and report relevant points, precisely and objectively.
00:52If an error is found, the result is forwarded to the employees at the so-called finish band.
00:58On a 3D visualization, they can see exactly where the error is and can fix it.
01:05All details are automatically captured, clustered and analyzed by AI to continuously optimize the painting process.
01:14Less than 100 seconds pass from the first scan to the final evaluation.
01:19What used to require a complex, subjective examination of the exterior, is now solved precisely and quickly by automated error detection.
01:28This technology relieves our employees, increases efficiency and guarantees the extraordinary quality that makes each of our vehicles so unique.