Automotive manufacturing has evolved into a highly competitive market, with tightening margins and competitive pressures from factors not previously considered. As a result, optimization of the manufacturing process has taken on new meaning, and multiple pursuits are in place to ensure productivity and profitability in the auto industry.
Quality control and inspection are integral parts of today’s manufacturing process, so to successfully facilitate the transition from conventional factories to smart factories of the future, it is vital to replace incumbent manufacturing and quality inspection technologies with emerging approaches.
Dimensional metrology is one of the technologies used in the quality control process to ensure accuracy of manufactured components. This industry is also experiencing significant technological advancements to enable smart factory concepts of the future.
Metrology market snapshot
Recent Frost & Sullivan analysis indicates the global dimensional metrology market in the automotive industry generated revenue of $940 million in 2013, and predicts the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% to approximately $1.22 billion in 2018. This includes technologies such as coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), optical digitizers and scanners (ODS), vision measuring machines (VMMs), and measurement gages. As a result of increased globalization, improving technology, and superior features being incorporated into these systems each year, this market is expected to continue expanding.
Moving closer to the production line
CMMs are devices used for measuring the geometrical characteristics of a component. These are superior in accuracy, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness compared to surface plate techniques. In the past, if a part or component from a manufacturing line needed to be inspected or measured using a CMM, it had to be transported to a temperature-controlled cleanroom. CMMs could not exhibit accurate results in thermally unstable environments, such as the production or manufacturing floor.
Metrology vendors have recognized that transporting components to a measuring room can be a tremendous waste of time and effort. As a result, metrology vendors have geared product development efforts toward moving measurement closer to the production line, giving rise to a new breed of equipment – shop floor (also known as near-line CMMs) and inline CMMs.
“There seems to be three worlds coming together - traditional metrology, lab metrology, and inline inspection,” explains Elliott Mills, general manager at Coord3 Metrology. “So what we are seeing is metrology and inline inspection as one world. We are seeing increased demand for two things that go together, shopfloor metrology and inline metrology solutions, especially in the automotive industry where high volume inspection is carried out.”
Thermal sensors are integrated with CMMs to detect temperature variations and apply corrections to the CMM in real time. Shopfloor CMMs can be placed next to a production line, even under thermally unstable environments. For shopfloor CMMs, an operator must take a manufactured part from the production line and place it on the CMM for measurement. In contrast, inline CMMs are highly automated systems designed to be integrated with the production line. These systems provide extremely high-speed inspection of the manufactured parts.
“Near-line is basically an extension of both traditional lab metrology products and inline inspection. These machines are designed for automation [and] can be robot loaded and unloaded,” Mills says. “It is really intended to be in between traditional lab metrology environment or 100% inline process that you see at the Tier 1 and 2 automotive manufacturers.”
Companies such as Hexagon Metrology, Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology, Mitutoyo Corp., Coord3 Metrology, and Wenzel Prazision GmbH offer shopfloor CMMs. Frost & Sullivan research indicates that the total shopfloor CMM market was valued at approximately $110 million in 2013. More than 40% of this was generated from automotive end users. In the automotive industry, the shopfloor CMM market is experiencing a higher growth rate than the conventional CMM market and is expected to continue generating demand in following years.
The conventional CMM segment (61% of 2013 automotive dimensional metrology sales) is comprised of bridge-type, gantry-type, horizontal-arm, and articulated-arm machines. Automotive sales of CMMs are expected to see a decline by 2018. Long shelf value, falling prices, saturated demand, and a shift toward optical metrology are few factors that will likely contribute to poor demand of CMMs in the future.
Shift to optical metrology
For decades, the dimensional metrology market was dominated by CMMs. However, during the past 10 years, 3D laser scanners, white-light scanners, laser trackers, and multi-sensor systems have become widely accepted in dimensional metrology. Apart from exhibiting high-precision results, newer technologies continue to capitalize on end user confidence by showcasing flexibility and portability.
Moreover, the automotive industry has traditionally been an early adopter of new technologies in the quality inspection process.
White-light scanners have been present in the dimensional metrology market for the past decade. Within this short time, these scanners have found wide application areas across industries. CMMs are widely used in complex application areas such as automotive powertrain. White-light scanner manufacturers have been successful at selling equipment for measuring dies and molds, casts, and forged parts. The auto industry accounts for more than 30% of total white-light scanners’ market revenue.
For example, Nikon Metrology offers automated Laser Radar. The company believes that Laser Radar can slowly replace horizontal arm machines for body-in-white applications.
“Nikon Metrology offers inline inspection with Laser Radar. Laser Radar is well known for inspection of fuselage, wings, and other large components in the aerospace industry. It is well received by the automotive manufacturers as well. Programmable non-contact Laser Radar has an accuracy of less than 0.1mm,” says Renaat Van Cauter, director of marketing communications at Nikon Metrology. “Laser Radar can be automated by mounting the equipment on a 6-axis robot arm that can be located on each side of the production line. Laser Radar is capable of measuring up to 2,000 points per second, making it suitable to not only measure features but also to scan surfaces.”
Frost & Sullivan finds that achieving absolute measurement results through ODS and VMM products is the utopian vision of several dimensional metrology manufacturers. Absolute measurement refers to providing accurate quantitative data on the parameters of the source without relying on external references. Research indicates that end users prefer absolute inline metrology equipment over relative measurement equipment. However, the importance of absolute measurement varies depending on the application. As ODS and VMM strive to deliver absolute measurement results, they are likely to see an increase in market adoption while steadily replacing traditional CMMs.
Automated dimensional metrology
The idea of smart factories, although not new, is constantly evolving. Today, many believe that factories of the future are driving the fourth industrial revolution. Dimensional metrology companies continue to adopt strategic customer acquisition models by gathering deeper understanding of end users’ production systems. The automated dimensional metrology market is likely to be a key area of focus for several dimensional metrology companies and is projected to skyrocket at a CAGR of 13% from 2013 to 2018. Frost & Sullivan research indicates Carl Zeiss, Hexagon Metrology, Perceptron Inc., Marposs, and Mitutoyo Corp. are leading companies in this segment.
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“With increased adoption of optical metrology systems on robots in plants, the role of repetitive manual operation will be reduced. Quality and metrology teams will shift focus to smart programming and insightful actionable analysis of measurement data,” states Tal Vagman, director of product strategy, automation solutions at Hexagon Metrology. “Automation is expected to be a key driver for the metrology market across industrial applications, especially in automotive.”
Several dimensional metrology manufacturers are rethinking strategies and investing significantly in research and development capabilities to develop unique solutions for rapidly evolving automotive end users. Companies that had limited in-house capabilities to provide integrated dimensional metrology solutions have created strategic alliances with other metrology and industrial automation companies to deliver cradle-to-grave solutions.
For example, Hexagon Metrology partners with Steinbichler Optotechnik GmbH (Steinbichler) to offer PROBEscanner for T-Probe users. Similarly, Automated Precision Inc. partnered with Steinbichler to create SmartScan. Hexagon Metrology has teamed up with Grenzebach Group member inos to offer dimensional metrology process control and automated 3D metrology solutions for the automotive industry.
“Robotic companies are searching for applications to integrate robots with other machines. If you compare the volume manufactured with automation and what is done with metrology, I think it is a 10-to-1 ratio,” Hans Weigert, sales and marketing director of Steinbichler Optotechnik, says. “For automation companies, automating metrology solutions is just an additional step, but for the metrology companies, automating metrology products is something new. Traditional metrology solutions may not exist in the next few years.”
Rapid transformation
In analyzing the changing dynamics of automotive end users, it becomes evident that dimensional metrology manufacturers have embraced the evolving concept of smart factories within the framework of their R&D, product design, and marketing strategies. Although research indicates that in the short-term, traditional metrology solutions like CMMs will continue to play a key role, equipment vendors cannot ignore rapid transformation in the industry.
The role of smart factories is likely to have a profound impact on dimensional metrology products and solutions. Automotive end users are likely to adopt a more holistic approach toward building quality inspection processes. In the future, end users will demand application-specific technologies to complete quality inspection within the production cycle. It is anticipated that leading dimensional metrology companies are likely to work more closely with other dimensional metrology manufacturers and industrial automation companies to provide integrated and automated metrology solutions to automotive end users.
Frost & Sullivan
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About the author: Aravind Govindan is a senior research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. He can be reached at enquiries@frost.com or 210.247.2481.