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LMI Technologies Inc. – Sensors That See™ for Automotive Assembly

LMI Technologies Introduction

LMI Technologies Inc. is a leading global provider of vision sensor technology for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and System Integrators. Customers from diverse industries engage LMI to develop and deliver sensors for numerous automated vision, control, and measurement applications. Since 1976, over 50,000 LMI Sensors That See™ have been put to work in some of the harshest working environments imaginable.

Investing in the future has always been a key to our success. As a key player in machine vision technology, LMI continues to add to its portfolio of over 100 technology patents.

Since the 1970's the LMI brands, Selcom^®, DynaVision^®, Sensors-95^® and Diffracto^® successfully founded much of the 3D machine vision industry.

Automotive Assembly Process Monitoring

Until the late 1980's, dimensional monitoring for automotive bodies and sub assemblies was accomplished with co-ordinate measuring machines (CMM's). These off-line devices provided ability to measure only a few components per day, providing statistically insufficient information for process control.

To provide measurement data on 100% of production parts, in the late 1980's laser measurement technology was introduced to assembly lines as final inspection stations, measuring the assembled product at idle end-of-line stations, with multiple 3D sensors mounted on a frame.

The measurement speed of laser sensors in these fixed measurement stations provided ability to measure every component produced, providing complete documentation on 100% of production, a dramatic improvement over the CMM. These end-of-line stations are broadly implemented in the industry, and LMI has supplied thousands of sensors for these systems to major automotive manufacturers in the Americas and Europe.

In the past decade, many automotive assembly plants began to move from production of a single model family to flexible assembly lines, capable of assembling a mix of different models, often of very different size and geometry. Since the fixed sensor inspection stations could not practically inspect a broad mixture of models, a new solution to in-line inspection was needed. LMI partnered with several systems integrators and robot manufacturers to develop Flexible Measuring Systems (FMS).

The FMS approach mounts a 3D laser sensor on a robot end effector, and uses the robot to position the sensor sequentially to each critical measurement point. Different production models are accommodated by multiple robot programs, automatically selected for each assembly. With the speed of today's robots, 100% inspection of assemblies on flexible assembly lines is achieved. Several hundred LMI sensors specifically designed for FMS applications have been implemented.

The Need for In-Process Monitoring

Manufacturers have found these final inspection solutions valuable for 100% final inspection, but have expressed a need to have ability for in-process monitoring for rapid response to process variations, much earlier in the production process.

In response, LMI has pioneered a new approach to monitoring the assembly operation with rugged 3D laser sensors which are installed in individual assembly tools to provide in-process monitoring, giving essentially instantaneous feedback, and allowing rapid response to any process variations, as they occur.

These in-process sensors can be distributed through multiple stations on the assembly line to provide ability to monitor the process as it progresses, to provide information to assist manufacturers to determine where in the assembly line corrective action is required.

LMI Vision Sensors for Automotive Assembly

LMI offers a full line of 3D laser vision sensors for process monitoring, for fixed and flexible final inspection stations, as well as in-process applications. Preferred vision integrators in automotive applications and end users are invited to contact us.

Dr. Walt Pastorius
Technical and Marketing Advisor
LMI Technologies Inc.
2835 Kew Dr.
Windsor, Ontario, Canada N8T 3B7

Tel: (519) 945 6373
Fax: (519) 945 1467
Email: info.auto@sensorsthatsee.com

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