Saving money/making money with machine vision

Poke-yokes are generally simple mechanical devices that make it impossible to do a task – usually an assembly task – the wrong way. Vision systems don’t really count as “simple” and “mechanical” but if you’ve got a fixture that’s used to assemble a family of products they can be very effective in a poke-yoke role.

That’s the case described in “The ROI of machine vision: Vision system reduces scrap in high-mix welding environment and pays for itself in two weeks” published on the Manufacturing Automation website, March 14^th, 2012.

This article, written by Steve Geraghty of Teledyne Dalsa, (they seem to have new energy in their Marketing Department these days,) describes just such a vision application. Two cameras are used to verify correct placement of components prior to welding. This, it’s claimed, saves both time and materials, but the material savings are based on scrap.

Details are in the article; it’s worth reading.