Automation .taxonomy-header__description{ width: 675px !important; max-width: 100% !important; }

Image courtesy of: kynny (iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Discover the future of quality control, unveiling the power of automation in manufacturing.

]]> https://www.qualitymag.com/rss/8450-automation en-us AI as an Enabler of Continuous Improvement: Applying Quality Thinking to AI Prompt Engineering When artificial intelligence enters the conversation in quality and continuous improvement (CI) circles, reactions tend to fall at two extremes. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99608 Wed, 27 May 2026 16:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99608-ai-as-an-enabler-of-continuous-improvement-applying-quality-thinking-to-ai-prompt-engineering a framework for integrating AI in Corporate Intelligence (CI) This cartoon, titled "The Cox-Box" by Gary P. Cox, highlights the relationship between human decision-making and artificial intelligence Flexible AI Inspection: How Learning Systems Are Changing Visual Quality Control Quality inspection today must cope with growing demands.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99591 Tue, 19 May 2026 13:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99591-flexible-ai-inspection-how-learning-systems-are-changing-visual-quality-control The Real ROI of Quality Automation Is Not Headcount Reduction Manufacturers continue to invest heavily in automation, cloud platforms, and artificial intelligence, yet many leaders still struggle to articulate whether those investments are delivering meaningful value, particularly across quality teams and functions.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99588 Mon, 18 May 2026 16:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99588-the-real-roi-of-quality-automation-is-not-headcount-reduction AI Is Getting Funded. ROI Still Has to Be Earned: How Manufacturers Can Break Through Manufacturers have long understood the promise of AI’s potential, especially for improving product quality, growing employee productivity, and reducing errors on the plant floor. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99583 Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99583-ai-is-getting-funded-roi-still-has-to-be-earned-how-manufacturers-can-break-through Industrial robotics automation often involves the use of specialized machinery and software the integration of human labor with advanced robotics and automation technologies When Automation Fails, the Process Is Usually to Blame Automation promises efficiency, cost savings, and fewer errors. What it cannot do is fix a broken process.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99581 Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99581-when-automation-fails-the-process-is-usually-to-blame Standardized Cobot Inspection Is Reshaping Quality Control—And Every Manufacturer Should Pay Attention Manufacturers today face a paradox: quality expectations continue to rise, yet the labor available to perform consistent, repeatable inspection continues to shrink.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99570 Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99570-standardized-cobot-inspection-is-reshaping-quality-controland-every-manufacturer-should-pay-attention This is a FANUC CRX collaborative robot featuring a lightweight white design with bright green accents. This is a FANUC CRX collaborative robot This is a FANUC CRX collaborative robot featuring a white arm with green accents performing industrial automation tasks VIDEO PODCAST | How to Increase Speed Without Compromising Quality in Aerospace Manufacturing Trevor Campbell, Sales Development Manager of Microscopy at Zeiss Industrial Quality Solutions, discusses artificial intelligence, microscopy, and a new manufacturing report deployed by Zeiss from the MAX Show in Nashville.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99566 Wed, 06 May 2026 13:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99566-video-podcast-how-to-increase-speed-without-compromising-quality-in-aerospace-manufacturing Before AI Can Help, the Data Has to Be Ready Manufacturers increasingly want to use artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics to improve quality and reduce waste.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99564 Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99564-before-ai-can-help-the-data-has-to-be-ready Getting Automation Right from the Start Many manufacturers want to automate but struggle to figure out where to begin. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99563 Tue, 05 May 2026 01:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99563-getting-automation-right-from-the-start an industrial fiber laser machine Semiconductor device inline planarity check with AT-Sensors 3D laser profilers. an automated 3D inline inspection system by AT Sensors Soda can pressure check with AT-Sensors 3D laser profilers. Building Quality Systems for Complex, Regulated Environments Mukesh Kumar, a SAP Premium Engagement Leader and enterprise transformation strategist, has spent more than two decades designing and delivering large-scale quality, compliance, and digital transformation programs across regulated industries. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99562 Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99562-building-quality-systems-for-complex-regulated-environments VIDEO PODCAST | An Engineer Since Age 8 Antigone Sharris is a full-time faculty member of the Engineering Technology Team at Triton College. She is also faculty lead, NFPA Fluid Power Fast Track Hub Site; faculty advisor, Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society; and mentor to the Team 2151 Robotics Team.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99550 Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99550-video-podcast-an-engineer-since-age-8 What Should Quality Professionals Know About the Updated U.S. Robot Safety Standard? Robots are no longer confined to fenced cells performing repetitive tasks on the factory floor. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99529 Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99529-what-should-quality-professionals-know-about-the-updated-us-robot-safety-standard Fiber Optics: The Data Transmission Backbone Powering AI-Driven Industrial Inspection Machine vision cameras have crossed a threshold.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99528 Sun, 19 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99528-fiber-optics-the-data-transmission-backbone-powering-ai-driven-industrial-inspection This image displays a high-speed machine vision system used for real-time human pose estimation. Real-time human pose system incorporating BitFlow CoF frame grabber, Advantech AI edge computer, and Optronis fiber camera, accelerated by NVIDIA TensorRT deep learning. This image displays a real-time human pose estimation system in action. How AI-driven Vision Systems Are Transforming Automotive Quality Control The landscape of automotive quality control is undergoing a profound transformation. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99527 Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99527-how-ai-driven-vision-systems-are-transforming-automotive-quality-control How Agentic AI Improves Customer Service and Support in Manufacturing As professors Hirotaka Takeuchi and John Quelch stated in their famous Harvard Business Review article, “Quality is more than making a good product,” emphasizing that in manufacturing, excellent customer service and support are just as crucial as the product itself.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99507 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99507-how-agentic-ai-improves-customer-service-and-support-in-manufacturing How Do We Get to the Positive? selandd@bnpmedia.com (Darryl Seland) You see it a lot with e-commerce. Online shopping is said to offer an advantage. An array of “reviews” posted by other shoppers of the product you are considering. Amazon and others have converted these comments on the worthiness of a product into tools that help browsers decide if they want to become purchasers.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99493 Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99493-how-do-we-get-to-the-positive AI-Powered Machine Vision Technologies Are Revolutionizing Industrial Applications No two eggs are identical, yet all are edible. This principle applies equally to industrial manufacturing: the diversity of produced parts and potential defects is virtually limitless. The added challenge for quality assurance and identification tasks?

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99490 Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99490-ai-powered-machine-vision-technologies-are-revolutionizing-industrial-applications This image illustrates the concept of Automated Visual Inspection using machine learning for quality control. Deep learning-based algorithms learn automatically based on training image data.  The image shows baguette bread, a long, thin loaf of French origin typically made from lean dough. Defect detection on bakery goods. The image displays a screenshot from a robot-assisted bin-picking system used to identify and organize plastic accessory bags. Robust Identification of translucent plastic bags overlapping of lying on top of each other with different contents. This image displays a modern automotive assembly line featuring industrial robots performing welding operations on a car body. Machine vision application for inspecting weld seams on car bodies. The image displays a dashboard or log file from an automated inspection system analyzing various controls, likely for industrial welding quality control. Deep learning technologies detect the difference between OK and NOK welds. If Safety Is on the Line: Designing a Quality Strategy That Does Not Overtrust Tools Quality teams now rely on a dense stack of tools: automated test frameworks, AI assisted test generation, self healing locators, visual testing, static analysis, and observability platforms. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99485 Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99485-if-safety-is-on-the-line-designing-a-quality-strategy-that-does-not-overtrust-tools The Gift of Getting It Wrong: Why Human Error Is Innovation’s Secret Weapon 1SmartQMS@gmail.com (Maria DiBari) We treat mistakes like something to be engineered out of existence. Every roadmap promises fewer defects. Every system promises more precision. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99468 Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99468-the-gift-of-getting-it-wrong-why-human-error-is-innovations-secret-weapon Exploring Quality of Autonomous Systems My career started with the early days of the semiconductor industry, and a few years later techies started dreaming of large-scale semiconductor memory. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99467 Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99467-exploring-quality-of-autonomous-systems VIDEO PODCAST | The Dynamics and Discussions of Quality 4.0 David Ryeson, Kaushik Shubhank, and Dr. Jan Nöcker of the Boston Consulting Group have written for Quality about AI and Quality 4.0.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99469 Fri, 13 Mar 2026 01:00:00 -0400 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99469-video-podcast-the-dynamics-and-discussions-of-quality-40 The ‘Dark Factory’ Myth The idea of the ‘dark factory’ has gained new attention as advances in robotics and AI accelerate. Stories range from fully automated automotive plants that operate around the clock and lights-out facilities in China, to experiments with humanoid robots on production lines, often framed as early signs of factories that no longer require people on the shop floor.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99453 Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99453-the-dark-factory-myth Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: How to Utilize AI the ‘Right’ Way in Quality The application of AI in quality receives mixed responses: to some, it solves many problems; to others, it feels like Pandora’s box.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99451 Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99451-critical-thinking-in-the-age-of-ai-how-to-utilize-ai-the-right-way-in-quality Engineering Tomorrow: Waygate Technologies Drives the Future of NDT with Integrated AI and Automation The relentless pace of innovation is redefining modern manufacturing. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99434 Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99434-engineering-tomorrow-waygate-technologies-drives-the-future-of-ndt-with-integrated-ai-and-automation Four Physical AI Predictions for 2026 (and Beyond) As someone focused on shaping the future of automation, I see four trends that will redefine how robots create value. 

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99433 Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99433-four-physical-ai-predictions-for-2026-and-beyond The item pictured is a Universal Robots e-Series collaborative robot The image features a NEOintralogistics robotic picking system designed for warehouse automation. The image features a collaborative robot arm, or "cobot," specifically designed for industrial automation. Enabling Automation Through Zero-Defect Machining Automation doesn't fix unstable processes—it scales them. This white paper explains how closed-loop process control, real-time SPC, and root-cause discipline create a zero-defect process state that enables reliable, lights-out manufacturing.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99422 Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99422-enabling-automation-through-zero-defect-machining Quality Caption Contest #3 Winner Congratulations to the winner of the Quality Caption Contest! See who won and what the winning caption is.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99410 Tue, 17 Feb 2026 09:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99410-quality-caption-contest-3-winner It’s Time to Get Real About AI AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton said the quiet part out loud in a December interview with Fortune Magazine – that “companies investing trillions in artificial intelligence can only make their money back by eliminating human jobs.”

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99406 Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99406-its-time-to-get-real-about-ai 5 Ways to Use AI for Process Automation with Human Oversight Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) teams are expected to keep audits moving, close corrective actions, manage supplier issues, maintain training records, meet customer requirements, and stay ready for whatever regulators expect next.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99405 Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99405-5-ways-to-use-ai-for-process-automation-with-human-oversight How AI is Transforming Metalworking in 2026 Metalworkers have long faced the familiar pressures of a shrinking workforce and unpredictable supply chains.

]]> http://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99368 Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0500 https://www.qualitymag.com/articles/99368-how-ai-is-transforming-metalworking-in-2026