Case Studies: Sensors Provide Continuous Quality Control
Vredestein Banden BV (Enschede, The Netherlands) is a medium-sized independent tire manufacturer whose strategy is to produce quality tires at an attractive price. Tires at the Enschede plant range from passenger tires for summer and winter weather conditions to all-season sports tires, vans and light truck tires, and bicycle tires. Vredestein Banden has made large investments in production equipment in recent years in order to gear itself up for the complex task of producing a wide range of tires at a single production site.
The Vredestein Banden tire plant was looking for an instrument to measure the thickness of calendered sheets. The company had been manually inspecting the surface using a caliper, but found that the method was prone to employee interpretation and did not provide continuous quality control. Also, the method lacked direct or continuous feedback to control the thickness.