November 22, 2022
Wireless freedom or cord quality levels. Need to make a trade-off? Nope.
Wireless solutions offer many assembly line advantages such as improved productivity, enhanced speed and operator-friendly ergonomics. But this freedom can come with some serious downsides since there is more room for operator mistakes. Mistakes that can cause reduced product quality that ultimately drive higher costs. The challenge is to combine the freedom wireless offers with the production quality restricted cord solutions provide.
“It is all about first time right and making it easy for the operator.”
Carlos Gonzalez-Tarrio Global Product Manager
Industry 4.0 does not mean compromises
In Industry 4.0 manufacturing and in particular for tightening, automation counts. But despite this, many assembly tightening operations are still performed manually. And these are more and more moving from cord to wireless thanks to the flexibility wireless offers. With process objectives ranging from short cycle times, productivity and flexibility to quality and operator freedom the question is if the advantages wireless and cord offer stand in contrast to each other. But, is it really necessary to compromise quality over freedom when moving to wireless?
The answer is no. There is a solution that fulfills all tightening quality objectives while enabling operator freedom. It is the Atlas Copco Industrial Location SpotPoint (ILS) 2.0 solution. ILS 2.0 is a unique wireless bolt-level positioning system designed to help you reduce tightening errors in your assembly line and ensure that the right torque is applied in each and every joint.
A wireless bolt-level positioning system
ILS 2.0 uses vision technology to track the position of the tightening tool. It consists of two main parts; a sensor and passive tags that are placed on the tightening tools. The sensor is an all-in-one solution with cameras and computing power making it easy to install. The passive tags are tracked by the sensor to detect tools and part.
When the tool is not in the right position, it remains locked. When the operator moves to the right position in the tightening sequence, the tool is enabled and the operator can perform the tightening knowing that it is being done in the right position and with the right parameters.
Exploit the advantages of wireless tools
The Atlas Copco Industrial Location SpotPoint 2.0 is designed to fully exploit the advantages of cordless tightening tools. It allows the operator to experience wireless freedom but at the same time provide error-proofing features that reduce the cost of rework and downtime. The result is an operator-friendly solution that ensures high product quality whilst driving productivity and flexibility in manufacturing.
Want to know more about ILS 2.0 or any of the many other Atlas Copco tools and solutions for manufacturing processes? Get in touch with us today and schedule a demo!