Motion Control

Canadian visionVision control system finds ready applicationBy Steve Purwitsky

]-{o-.g.own ca'adian technology and innovarion is always a pleasure ro

r rwr i te about , bu t i t ' s someth ing we don ' t see near ly enough oFrhese days .A casc in point is a vision conrrol sysre m developed by a Markham, ont.-basedGloba l Cont ro ls . The sys tem is app l i cab le ro a w ide var ie ry o f indus t r ies andaccording ro one sarisf ied user, van-Rob Sramping Inc., i t 's Canadian rechnologyat l t s Dcs t .

Global Concrols was formed someseven years ago, essenrial ly evolving outof Canavision Technologies Ltd., a com-pany that boasts a 15-year hisrory develop-ing image processing algorirhms For theplrrpose of automating in.spection tasksthat would otherwise be performed by theht tman eye.

" '$7e are the only Canadian companywe know of thar has bui l t vision controlsolut ions nor using rhird party software

to cstabl ish a rool l ibrary," Global Con-trols .salcs manager Michael Owens says."Further, we are rhe only vision focusedcompany chat provides rhe rurnkey auroma-t ion and dirccr supporr rhereafrer."

Owens be l ieves rhe imp lementar ion

of a v is ion techno logy sy .s rem is o f renmisr rndcrs rood, resu l r ing in rhe sysrembeing abandoned before the real benefirs, r rc rca l i zcd .

"\When purchasing a sysrem, you needto look Further than the cost of rhe cam-cra, lcns and cablc," hc says. "In real iry,a porcnrial user ofren does not have rheimage processing background needed to setup thc sysrcm. This rcsults in a misguidedand costly setup and leads ro dif f icult ies inrecovering data that can take many monrhsto rect i fy. (Jnfortunately, the end result isthat the r imc nccded ro design, implemenr

and support the system becomes too expen-sive and the vision sysrem is shelved.

"Simply pur, purchasing off-the-shelfvision sysrems may nor hold al l rhe answersfor a dependable and cost-effective sysrem"

he adds.

Assemble the factsBefore insral l ing a vision sysrem, the fol-lowing questions should be asked:. Who is going ro implement rhe

technology?. How long will ir take ro implemenr?. How easy is ir for company personnel

to learn "rhe system"?

According to Owens, Global Controlshas an edge in thar i t designs, instal ls andsupports i ts vision sysrems with on-site andonline supporr to minimize any impacrto production.

l L " , ( : i l 1 " r l r , r ' t | ( l ( { ) t t

" 'we sel l a solurion that, by definir ion, is a win-win situarion for everyoneinvolved and, in our opinion, is the only way industry is going ro survive in NorrhAmerica as i t competes against low labour cosr cenrres in the developing world,"he concludes.

one customer, van-Rob Sramping in Aurora, onr., insral led a Global conrrolsvision control sysrem relarively recently and is finding rhe system easy ro use andfunctions as required.

Motion Control

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This vision control system by Global Controls helps Van-Rob Stamping

verify the quali ty of i ts robotical ly assembled automotive instrument panels.

The company designs and manufactures metal stampings, modular

welded assemblies, structural welded assemblies, mechanical assemblies

and heat shields for automobile manufacturers. Established in 1979, the

company has grown into a global mult i-plant organization operating

from more than a mil l ion and a half square feet with press capacit ies

of 100 to 1,600 tons.

The Global Controls vision control system is used to monitor mult iplc

fastener operations used in auromotive sub-structure ins(rument panel

assembly. In essence, fasteners can be instal led manually or robotical ly.

Since the former method can bc costly and subject to human error,

robotic assembly usually makes more sense. The main function of the

automated vision inspection system, then, is to verify the presence or

absencc of all rhe fasteners that are being

installed by a robot.

In operation, rhere are two different "fam-

ilie.s" of frames, and each "family" has four

different frames. The vision system identifies

the missing Fasceners and displays their loca-

rion on the user interface. In addition, the

system keeps record ofall 38 fasteners in a

table format. As a processing tool, it helps

the engineering department fine tune the

fastener-installing robot on a weekly basis.

Anorher imporrant part oFthe assembly

opcration at Van-Rob Stampings is verifica-

t ion that al l fasteners are instal led correctly

before the parts are sent to customers,

The vision also reduces some non-value

human inspection labour that can be moved

into a production role. Barry Kavanaugh,

corporate process engineering manager at

Van-Rob Stampings, notes that because the

company has a multiple-fastener operation, it

would need several operators for the manual

inspection process. Using a vision control

system, he says, increases accuracy and obvi-

ates the need for manual inspection.

"In using the Global Controls al l-Cana-

dian system," he says, "we have been able to

reduce manpower while having the added

option to use 'picture

traceabiliry' for every

part produced in our Scarborough plant."

Kavanaugh says rhe new system is easy to

program, gives better statistical feedback on

the fasteners been monitored, is PC based,

very user friendly and extremely fast.

Ease of useAccording to Kavanaugh, there are several

off-the-shelf i tems avai lable on the market,

but none can provide the necessary user-

support needed. He says Global Controls

has the knowledge, support and expert ise

required ro keep its systems in the forefront

of technology. In addition, rhe productt

adaptabi l i ty to his part icular company

needs was relatively easy.

There are many challenges Facing the

Canadian manufacturing industry these

days (and al l have been well publ icized),

but staying competit ive remains high on

EAlan Macpherson416-764-1534alan. macpherson@de.rogers.com

-f,(

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May 2008