Automated Apparatus for In-Line Inspection of Mass Produced Custom Parts

The progression of industry, toward mass personalisation, initiates added complexities to the quality control and part inspection processes. Mass produced custom parts require varying, and sometimes unique inspection routines, with only certain features of a part requiring inspection. Inspection of these parts must occur at a higher frequency than batched production. This leads to an increase in the inspection time involved. There is a need for current inspection processes to undergo cost-effective modifications to facilitate flexible inspection of custom parts, whilst maintaining batched production rates. This paper details the modification of an existing Automated Visual Inspection System (AVIS), using Mechatronic Engineering as a design tool, to become more applicable and suited to a Reconfigurable Manufacturing Environment (RME). The AVIS was a constituent of a Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) cell. The modified apparatus was able to perform part inspection at a faster rate than was achieved by the previous design.