MARCH 9--Italian automotive manufacturer Cabi needs complete traceability of each of its parts to ensure safety and quality control. The company chose Technifor (Miribel, France; www.technifor.com) to ensure this traceability with direct-part-marking (DPM) on the surface of each product. Cabi is using Checker and In-Sight vision systems from Cognex (Natick, MA, USA; www.cognex.com) to eliminate the risk of errors in the production process, as well as to read and inspect directly marked codes at each point of production.
A two-tier identification is initially performed by Checker for symbol detection and then by In-Sight for code verification and reading. Checker, the vision sensor, detects the presence of each symbol before the part is marked using a laser with a 2-D code. Cabi had never used vision sensors before. Previous systems proved incapable of verifying the code or even checking for its presence.
Technifor uses a laser marking process to mark 2-D codes onto the surface of each part. Cognex In-Sight vision systems are deployed at the point where each code needs to be read, verified, and recorded. Each production inspection is recorded so that at each control point an accurate trace is kept on each part. These details are automatically entered into a database that is integrated into the client's operations.
The nature of the manufacturing environment and the challenging circumstances of the application meant that machine vision was the only solution. Checker is used to check for the presence of the symbol on each part, thus ensuring that the correct part is marked with the correct code. Cognex In-Sight cameras with ID Max software proved the only reliable means for code verification and reading, as well as cooperating with the data collection process.
