My informal observations of published white papers and interviews with colleagues support that quality is moving in the direction of Quality 4.0, but very slowly.
The manufacturing industry has seen major upheaval over the past few years. From supply chain disruption to worker shortages, keeping the pipeline filled with quality products – free of defects – has been no easy challenge. Because of these issues, the promise of Industry 4.0, or smart manufacturing, has never been more important.
Ongoing labor shortages, easier-to-use robotic solutions and new industries embracing robotics, such as restaurants, retail, construction and even agriculture, led to a record number of robots sold in North America in 2022, at least through Q3. We expect these trends—and others—to contribute to the growth of automation in 2023.
The topic of Quality 4.0 is rapidly becoming a legend due to its mysterious nature; it seemingly has no formal description. Very few people can confidently say that they have seen it or used it.
As surface finish measurement increasingly moves to the point of manufacture, adding automation to the process helps maximize productivity and increases quality and machining efficiency.
The phenomenal rise of collaborative automation systems over the past decade or so has seen collaborative technologies deployed on a growing number of quality control applications. Collaborative automation enables companies of all sizes to improve throughput and reduce cycle times on inspection tasks.
Manufacturers are now embracing the move to the digitization of their production processes. Many initial project goals are very narrowly focused around removing manpower, manual errors, and running 24/7 to improve total output. These are all worthy goals for sure. Yet, this approach leaves many facets in their overall process often overlooked. There are critical questions that must be asked.