Ford invests in robot technology to reduce wind noise

Ford Motor Company said it plans to improve quality of its cars with reduced wind noise and more refined fit and finish through a robotic plant laser inspection technology, worth $100 million, the automaker said in a statement.

This new technology is being used during assembly of the all-new Ford Explorer and Ford Focus and will be rolled out globally as part of Ford’s next phase of its quality initiative.

“Ford’s robotic laser technology gives us a degree of precision like never before,” Ron Ketelhut, chief engineer, Body Construction Engineering said in the statement. “The vision technologies verify the dimensions of interfaces on the vehicle’s body in a highly accurate way, to a tenth of a millimeter.”

Ford said the technology checks on car door panels fit more accurately and reduce wind noise, a key quality factor for consumers and a major industry challenge.

Laser-guided, end-of-line robotic technology was pioneered by Ford’s European team to measure points on each vehicle as it moves past the line to verify build quality. The robots are programmed to recognise any minute deviations from the correct specification and, if any errors are found, instruct the operator on the correct course of action.

The new strategy uses the entire range of tools in addition to the vision-guided robot cells and laser inspection to ensure leading vehicle quietness.