The problem

In industry, each sector is confronted with its own individual challenges. Within an industry, these in turn differ from company to company, from product to product. Even though more and more technical solutions to production problems have emerged over time, increasingly sophisticated products have also given rise to new challenges.

That is why people are still in demand today when it comes to complicated assembly work. The advantage of human labor is the ability to handle extremely complex tasks. The disadvantage is that errors accumulate, especially with complicated assemblies and large quantities. These result in a higher number of rejects, can lead to complaints and ultimately cost money.

The solution 

As inventive as man is, he has naturally come up with a solution to his own shortcomings. With worker guidance, the error rate can be reduced to a minimum and the speed of assembly increased at the same time.

How it works 

Within a production line, workers assemble assemblies or fit circuit boards, for example. The camera of the worker guidance system is mounted above the production line. Next to it is a computer equipped with special software. This was previously used to create a program for a specific work step on the production line. In addition, the worker can see on a monitor which step is to be done next and receives feedback on whether a work step was successful or not. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)​

If the worker now carries out this work step, this is recorded by the camera. The program compares the result of the work step with a target image and decides whether the work step was carried out satisfactorily or not. Depending on this, it is classified as “good” and the worker moves on to the next step, or it is classified as “bad” and the step must be repeated or the component ejected.

Worker guidance 4.0

Even if worker guidance systems are generally helpful, they are sometimes complicated to operate and cameras can also have problems with image processing - especially under changing environmental influences (changing brightness in the production hall, etc.) or if even the smallest deviations are relevant for components.

​ ModPCB With the ModPCB, Vision4Quality has developed a worker guidance system that avoids these pitfalls through a series of innovative approaches. Thanks to the no-code principle, i.e. the use of a simple user interface, the creation of programs is feasible without any programming knowledge and can also be carried out by unskilled workers.

One major advantage over conventional worker guidance systems is the​ integration of AI. When checking work steps, these work on the basis of algorithms that are inferior to artificial intelligence in many respects. ModPCB can collect data during the ongoing production process, which can then be used to train an AI. This artificial intelligence now knows all the components in an assembly and can also recognize them in other constellations. Even the smallest deviations, such as the wrong polarity of an electrolytic capacitor, can be detected.

With additional extensions such as pick-by-light or the integration of other devices such as screwdrivers or printers, ModPCB is compatible with various production environments. Another feature is a powerful projector that can project instructions onto the work surface and markings directly onto the components. This makes the work process even more intuitive and even unskilled workers can complete assemblies quickly and without errors.

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