VIVALDI develops AI-based IoT quality control with its solution partner, Bechtle

VIVALDI Digital Solutions – VIVALDI develops AI-based IoT quality control with its solution partner, Bechtle.

VIVALDI Digital Solutions GmbH recently emerged from the Schlote Group to offer innovative solutions to automotive suppliers. When it looked into further automating and simplifying the physically demanding work of inspectors, it collaborated closely with solution partner Bechtle to design an IoT application that automates the majority of quality control tasks through AI-based image recognition. The solution is not only scalable, but also fulfils the industry’s strict security requirements.

Project details.

Services

Professional Services

Industry

Manufacturing
Trade / Service

Company size

< 250 employees

Challenge.

The Schlote Group is an automotive supplier that customises a range of vehicle components. Not many people have heard of the owner-run business headquartered in Hanover and with sites in China and the Czech Republic, but nearly everyone who owns a car will have a part manufactured by the Schlote Group in their vehicle. A highly specialised process in which holes are drilled and surfaces milled is required to manufacture these incredibly complex components. Assembly and quality control are also part of the process with 85% of the work automated. Quality control, however, is still a fully manual process. Working in shifts, inspectors check the surfaces of the heavy components with sharp edges for flaws, picking them up from the production line and turning them as they do so. It’s hard work that Schlote wanted to automate using AI-based image recognition.

We were able to benefit from Bechtle’s extensive IoT and AI expertise from the very off. The company provided us with a project manager who kept a keen eye on the timeline, a solution architect, a security concept and so much more. These specialists’ expertise allowed us to collaborate closely with Bechtle to design a tailored modular test cell that shows great potential for the automobile industry as a whole and for manufacturing in general.

Uwe Siegwart, CEO, VIVALDI Digital Solutions GmbH

To lay the foundations, the Schlote Group called on its development partner for the implementation of digitalisation projects, VIVALDI Digital Solutions GmbH. Working together, the companies developed a product that emerged from the original digitalisation project—AI-based image recognition of vehicle components in test cells designed specifically for the task as the highly-specialised solutions previously used for image-supported defect detection couldn’t handle the complex component geometry or cycle times. VIVALDI wanted to design a more flexible solution that was easy to implement, attractive from an economic point of view, relieved employees, used AI-based defect detection and was highly scalable. By VIVALDI’s side during the project was Bechtle, which—as an IT service provider—consolidated extensive expertise in everything from the cloud and hardware to IoT and AI.

Solution.

Bechtle and VIVALDI worked together on a new overall solution and developed VIVALDI’s vision, with the IT service provider helping with the selection of components and developing solution scenarios based on previously defined problems. A network comprising a project manager, solution architect and other Bechtle experts was created, collaborating with VIVALDI to deliver fully-automated, user-friendly, AI-based quality control in test cells that can be used at all Schlote production facilities and scaled to other manufacturers and products. VIVALDI was able to focus on developing the software solution to allow traceability and the use of AI while Bechtle took care of the hardware, a suitable platform and security concept and much more related to the solution as a whole.

Bechtle not only looked for partial solutions and test setups for component comparisons on behalf of VIVALDI, but also for suitable business partners, building the network that it needs for the further development and marketing of its ideas and products. After all, VIVALDI has not only developed a secure and fully automated test cell, but also the related data-driven software that can be used to trace, analyse and process products, which will allow all manufacturing steps to be precisely tracked along the supply chain in the future, meaning production errors will be identified and rectified more quickly. This allows VIVALDI to ensure that key data can be monitored and materials and resources can be used sustainably.

Business benefits.

Through its collaboration with Bechtle, VIVALDI was able to make its vision of automated quality control a reality. VIVALDI and Bechtle bundled their powers and expertise to design standardised yet adaptable test cells for surface inspections made unique by Bechtle’s skill. Leveraging the AI-based software developed by VIVALDI, Schlote now processes its data in such a way that anomalies are identified quickly for analysis, considerably optimising a component’s value chain. AI-based image detection also significantly reduces manual labour and has improved working conditions and is scalable so that other manufacturers can benefit from it. As a sales partner, Bechtle offers innovative quality control to its customers from numerous industries.