The challenge
One of the world’s 10 largest automotive suppliers manufactures innovative actuators to control turbocharger blow-off valves at its locations in Europe and China. For the latest generation of actuators, a reliable partner was sought who could serve the locations on both continents while meeting the high quality requirements of the automotive industry.
The special nature of the task
To achieve the best possible conditions, the manufacturer was seeking a partner for all of the turned parts installed in the actuator. This also included a turned part to connect the actuator and the valve in the subsequent customer application, which is a particularly critical component. It is not only functionally relevant, but also significantly impacts the visual appearance of the actuator and thus the quality perceived by the automotive industry customers.
The Dakoko solution
Dakoko developed a special handling concept for the shaft installed in the actuator so that the extremely high requirements with regard to dimensional accuracy and surface quality could be met. The surface quality needs to be below Ra 0.15 to keep the noise level in the actuator low. The fact that the shaft is made of relatively soft stainless steel makes complying with this requirement particularly difficult, because even the smallest scratches during production lead to rejects.
The handling concept ensures that component damage is eliminated to the greatest possible extent. Special high-precision filtration systems, for example, are used in the final grinding processes to prevent residues from settling in the grinding medium, which could lead to surface damage.
Details that make the difference
Despite all precautions, damage to individual components can never be fully ruled out, but delivery of such parts to automotive customers is absolutely unacceptable. Dakoko, together with a special machine manufacturer, has therefore developed a sorting system that takes high-resolution video recordings of the shafts while they are rotated 360 degrees. Using machine learning and AI algorithms, these video images are checked for signs of surface damage. This means Dakoko can ensure that several million components are delivered every year, all of which fully meet the customer’s quality requirements.
Dakoko also uses similar technology for other turned parts, such as exterior parts, to check 100 % of workpieces for dimensional accuracy and visible damage.
Benefits for the customer
- Maximum quality for customer locations in China and Europe
- Minimal quality risk, so that the entire process ultimately goes toward
- Minimizing procurement costs