ZEISS Captures Quality Data via 5G For Networked Production

The new 5G mobile standard will open up many groundbreaking opportunities for the networked production facilities of the future. One example is ZEISS’ system for capturing in-line quality data in automotive manufacturing by using 5G, which the company is exhibiting in the 5G Arena at this year’s Hannover Messe in Germany. (Hall 16, Booth D38).

“5G will offer greater bandwidth and speed, along with increased capacity for connecting the necessary machines or systems to generate, analyze and transfer far more of the sensor, management and quality data generated on the networked shop floor. Machines and systems will be able to communicate directly with each other. This will give our customers new opportunities to achieve more flexibility, transparency and automation in production while further increasing quality,” says Kai-Udo Modrich, Head of Car Body Solutions, part of the ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions segment. Modrich points out that manufacturing an increasing number of product versions requires that companies be able to quickly and automatically reconfigure all manufacturing equipment, including production and measuring robots as well as conveyor systems.

For automotive manufacturers, ZEISS offers solutions for implementing closed quality control loops along the entire process chain as part of highly automated production areas. Even the slightest component errors are automatically reported back to the manufacturing systems, which are then readjusted before increasingly significant deviations turn into actual defects.

Visitors to the Hannover Messe can also check out the ZEISS AICell robot cells. These employ various sensors to measure all necessary parameters in the production line, including gap and flush and the quality of a car body surface. With this measuring cell, ZEISS demonstrates how companies can capture and evaluate complex geometric characteristics quickly and efficiently by using the point cloud sensor ZEISS AIMax cloud.

Ensuring fast, comprehensive connectivity and analysis for this large quantity of digital quality information is an indispensable part of performing real-time process control in the production line.

Productivity and Quality Office