By Poornima Apte
Contributed By DigiKey’s North American Editors
In the automotive sector, manufacturing is a complex process. A vast network of suppliers ship parts just in time for assembly according to established protocols. Traceability enables all stakeholders to pinpoint the exact origin of each part, down to the part, serial number, lot number, production time and date, manufacturing location, and more.
When a vehicle is made up of tens of thousands of parts, being able to trace each one is critical for a variety of reasons. These include:
- Accuracy of assembly and quality control: Quality assurance necessitates the right parts be assembled together in the right sequence. Traceability through bar codes ensures no mistakes are made during assembly.
- Cradle-to-grave tracking of parts: Improving traceability of individual components enables manufacturers to better understand performance efficiency right down to the smallest parts. Such data can aid future design and manufacturing efforts with a view to maximizing the life and net value derived from each component.
- Supply chain visibility: Vast supplier ecosystems strain supply chains and create challenges, which are further amplified by factors including geopolitics and abrupt disruptions like disease and natural disasters. Being able to track tens of thousands of parts is a must for manufacturing operations and for resilient supply chains.
- Efficient recalls: In the event of a recall of a flawed part, it helps to be able to trace each part back to its original supplier, complete with the lot and part number and similar distinguishing information. Instead of automotive companies having to waste millions of dollars issuing wide recalls, they can be more precise about narrowing a smaller subset of vehicles that have one defective part from one specific manufacturer and lot. Such efficiency reduces waste, saves money, and potentially preserves brand reputation.
- Avoiding counterfeits: Because vehicle manufacturers depend on a constellation of suppliers, counterfeits can make their way into the system if not checked. These components can seriously damage the manufacturer’s reputation and complicate potential recalls. Having traceability in place ensures that companies can easily verify the provenance of parts and track them down to their original vendor to avoid counterfeits.
- Integration with data-driven Industry 4.0: Traceability with barcodes or RFID tags is part of a suite of technologies that can build smarter factories. Manufacturing execution systems (MES) can integrate with data from traceability processes to ensure smoother and faster product development and manufacturing cycles. Real-time traceability helps auto manufacturers optimize the discrete manufacturing process as they track components down the production line.
Scannable barcodes make it easy to monitor and compare lines, enabling plant managers to determine which processes are more time-consuming and optimize them accordingly. Tracking manufacturing closely also helps plants find and resolve problems quickly before they escalate into larger challenges.
Such proactive measures are especially important since downtime in manufacturing can cost thousands of dollars, if not millions. Traceability helps companies avoid such steep expenses.
Traceable manufacturing data is valuable input for machine learning algorithms that can train on past behavior to improve future insights. Knowing a part fails under certain conditions, for example, can help design algorithms that proactively warn of future failure.
- Cradle-to-grave efficiencies: The ability to trace parts and track performance even after a product has been sold can be valuable as down-market data can give manufacturers valuable insight into how their goods are being used. Such information can help manufacturers be proactive about part replacement and other add-on services that can not only improve customer satisfaction, but also deliver an additional source of revenue in aftermarket service agreements.
- Enabling regulatory compliance: Manufacturers must frequently comply with stringent industry standards and regulations for safety, quality, and sustainability. Integrating traceability into production processes makes it easier for companies to comply with these standards and generate audit documentation as necessary.
The steps in traceability
Comprehensive traceability means parts need to be marked, verified, and read so that the data is communicated to MES in real time.
- Marking: The information to ensure traceability typically takes the form of a barcode that is stamped onto the part through what is known as a direct part mark (DPM). Laser technologies can create permanent identifiers such as serial numbers, barcodes, and more. Barcodes can be one-dimensional or two, the latter allowing more information to be stored by using both the horizontal and vertical direction.
- Verification: High-resolution cameras verify that the markings meet standards for size, shape, and position. These cameras, which check the accuracy of both human and machine-readable information, integrate with MES for real-time verification.
- Scanning: Barcode scanners read information about each individual component at systematic intervals throughout the manufacturing process—from raw materials to quality assurance. The V430 Industrial Fixed-Mount Barcode Readers (MicroHAWK product line) from Omron Automation (Figure 1) are high-performance barcode readers designed for easy, fast, and reliable decoding of 1D and 2D barcodes. The readers decode 1D/2D or DPM 2D barcodes on a wide variety of labels and form an integral part of a manufacturing traceability system.
Figure 1: The V430 industrial fixed-mount barcode readers from Omron Automation are high-performance barcode readers designed for easy, fast, and reliable decoding of 1D and 2D barcodes. (Image source: Omron Automation)
The rugged, compact housing features double front window construction that helps avoid moisture condensation. The ease of use, decode performance, optional liquid lens autofocus, and ultra-small form factor make the V430 a compact imager that can be used in industries including automotive, food, commodity, electronics, life sciences, logistics, and warehousing.
Overcoming the challenges of barcode-driven traceability
A common way to institute traceability is to create barcodes for every part. While such a method is useful, stamping barcodes on the smallest of thousands of parts can be difficult to execute. Similar challenges apply to the scanning of labels on fast-moving production floor conveyor belts. Non-uniform code labels, poor lighting, varying label orientation, and uneven label geometry compound problems.
Harsh environments can also lead to wear and tear on the labels. When parts have to be stamped early on in the manufacturing process, they might be subjected to high heat, pressure hose spray-downs, or corrosive chemicals.
Not only must barcode scanners read the labels quickly and work well in rugged conditions, but they must often do so with labels that are less than optimal in quality. Readers with low-latency, high-resolution image processing can accurately decode damaged or dirty barcodes.
The MicroHAWK product line is also an ultra-compact family of barcode readers specifically designed for applications that require readers to be embedded inside complex equipment and perform under adverse conditions. Sensor resolutions range from 0.3 MP to 5 MP, and they are available with multiple optics and lighting options (Figure 2).
Figure 2: The MicroHAWK V430 series of ultra-compact industrial Ethernet barcode readers are available with multiple optics and lighting options. (Image Source: Omron Automation)
The readers feature decoding algorithms, a variety of sensor configurations, Ethernet/IP and Profinet connectivity, and a liquid lens autofocus technology. Especially key are the X-mode decoding algorithms in the MicroHAWK, which are capable of reconstructing symbols and can, therefore, read even distorted or faded codes.
Because of these innovations, the MicroHAWK is able to read a wide variety of codes at varying distances. They work right out of the box with the browser-based WebLink program without any specific software installation.
Conclusion
In the age of Industry 4.0, the increased complexity in manufacturing has increased the need for transparency and visibility not just in the supply chain, but in the entire cradle-to-grave process. Barcode scanners and readers from Omron are an important contribution to traceability and are an integral part of modern automotive manufacturing.
