The IBM Maximo Visual Inspection platform helps Ford easily find and correct defects before vehicles move further down the production line, delivering "real value to the business."
More than 100 years ago, Henry Ford said, "Quality means doing it right when no one is looking." Ensuring quality by meticulously inspecting work and materials was less complicated when Ford produced a single car model in one color - black. A flash forward to 2020: The Ford Motor Company produced 1.7 million vehicles1 in multiple models with dozens of option packages. You can imagine how difficult it is to "watch" every facet of the manufacturing process.
That's one of the reasons why Ford's technical experts partnered with IBM to deploy the IBM Maximo Visual Inspection platform, an AI-assisted computer-vision solution. The Maximo Visual Inspection platform can help reduce defects and downtime, and enable rapid action and problem solving. Ford implemented the solution in several plants and embedded it in multiple inspection points per plant. The goal was to help detect and correct body defects during the production process. These defects are often difficult to detect and pose a risk to customer satisfaction.
Attention drawn from Ford
Although computer vision for quality control has been around for 30 years, the lightweight and portable nature of our solution - which is based on a standard iPhone and uses readily available hardware - caught Ford's attention. All their employees can use the solution wherever they are, even while objects are in motion.
Ford found the system easy to train and deploy, with no data scientists involved. The system learned quickly from images of acceptable and deficient work, so it was operational within weeks, and the implementation cost was lower than most alternatives. The ability to deliver AI-driven automation through an intuitive process, in their factories, with low-threshold technology, allows Ford to quickly expand to other factories. Ford saw immediate measurable success in defect reduction.
"The goal was to help detect and correct bodywork defects during the production process. These defects are often difficult to detect and pose a risk to customer satisfaction."
IBM wins Ford's IT Innovation Award
The Ford IT Innovation award is presented once a year by the leaders of Ford's technical community to the technology they believe has made the biggest breakthrough in innovation that has created value for the company. This year, Mike Amend, Ford's Chief Digital and Information Officer, presented the award to IBM for its Maximo Visual Inspection solution.
In presenting the award, Ford executives said a conversation with IBM about digital transformation led to discussions about quality improvement with AI automation. The Maximo Visual Inspection solution supported Ford's "no fault forward" initiative with in-station process control and quality remediation at the point of installation or assembly. This is exactly the kind of continuous process improvement that helps Ford reduce repair and warranty costs and improve customer satisfaction, while helping employees play a role in bringing technical innovation to the shop floor.
"Through the power of IBM's deep AI capabilities, deployed on cost-effective edge infrastructure and in the cloud to share across our factories, Maximo Visual Inspection has enabled higher quality for our vehicles and our customers. We are expanding to additional plants and use cases in 2022, including our new electric vehicle plants," said Scott King, Manager & Principal Technologist - Advanced Manufacturing IT at Ford Motor Company.
"Through the power of IBM's deep AI capabilities, deployed on cost-effective edge infrastructure and in the cloud to share across our factories, Maximo Visual Inspection has enabled higher quality for our vehicles and our customers."
Collaboration with IBM
The collaboration between Ford and the team at IBM on this project was a great experience, allowing us to see firsthand the potential of Maximo Visual Inspection when deployed by a team of innovators at Ford.
The entire team at IBM, including co-lead Mal Pattiarachi, as well as development leaders, Abhi Singh and Carl Bender, are honored that Ford has recognized IBM for technical and business excellence. IBM believes this reflects the IBM values of dedication to the customer, innovation that matters, and personal responsibility. It is also a direct recognition of the value that the IBM Maximo Visual Inspection solution delivers to our clients. The mission is to harness the power of data and AI to derive real-time, predictive business insights that help our customers make intelligent decisions. I am excited to strengthen our partnership with Ford as the company implements the Maximo Visual Inspection solution in more locations and with more use cases.
Mike Hollinger is an IBM Distinguished Engineer, Master Inventor, and the CTO of Vision and Sensor AI/ML and IBM AI Applications.
Source: https://www.ibm.com/blogs/internet-of-things/ford-it-innovation-award-ibm/
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