Ford Motor (Ford)
Canvas Category OEM : Automotive
Ford is a family company, one that spans the globe and has shared ideals. We value service to each other and the world as much as to our customers. Generations have made their memories with us and included us in their hopes and dreams. After 117 years, we’re used to adapting to and leading change. That’s why we’re evolving to focus on services, experiences and software as well as vehicles.
Assembly Line
Comau delivers a highly flexible assembly solution for JMC Ford’s high-end pickup manufacturing
Comau has designed and deployed a flexible and comprehensive Body-In-White (BIW) manufacturing solution for JMC Ford to produce high-end pickup trucks at the Xiaolan plant in China’s Jiangxi province. The project established a highly versatile production line capable of accommodating various models and configurations, including JMC Ford’s new pickup truck brand Da Dao (Avenue) and Ford’s first pickup truck model introduced in the Chinese market, the Ranger. The fully scalable, state-of-the-art solution delivers a 100% automation rate while ensuring the vehicle quality and performance JMC Ford is known for, positioning JMC Ford to better address the growing demand for diversified and personalized products.
Comau’s body-in-white welding solution improves welding accuracy and stability, thus ensuring the final product’s structural integrity and safety. The solution also optimizes production processes and includes the adoption of advanced automation technologies to enhance production efficiency, reduce cycle times and increase output. And by incorporating both the welding and tightening guns within an integrated system. Comau was able to minimize the need for frequent tool changes. The solution also leverages advanced vision inspection technology for better quality control and allows JMC Ford to reduce their equipment investment and maintenance costs.
Ford harnesses Formlabs SLA & SLS 3D printing technology to prototype Electric Explorer vehicle parts
Ford was one of the first beta users of Formlabs’ Form 4, deploying the technology at its Ford Cologne facilities in Germany, where its engineers also have access to a Form 3L and Fuse 1+ 30W machine.
Among the parts to be prototyped with Formlabs 3D printing technology are a complex charging port, a cover for the charging port, a rearview mirror assembly, dashboard parts and exterior features. The company also 3D printed insert moulds for the injection moulding of two rubber components, required in the door handle design for their damping and insulation capabilities.
Having achieved this success with prototyping, Ford engineers also sought to combine the capabilities of 3D printing with injection moulding to produce crash test parts. These components must be made from the same material and process as in mass production, meaning the parts were always going to be manufactured with injection moulding. Ford saw the potential, however, in leveraging 3D printing for rapid tooling, producing the mould inserts for the rubber door handle assembly parts in weeks rather than months.
Inside the Factory Producing Massive Ford Trucks From Scratch
Ford, Hyundai test Tesla supplier's Giga Press
Idra, an Italian aluminum casting machine maker and Tesla supplier, has added Ford, Hyundai and another European company to its customer base as more automakers explore this manufacturing technique. Tesla has pioneered the use of massive casting machines, also known as ‘Giga Presses,’ to make large single pieces of vehicle underbodies, streamline production and reduce the work even of robots.
The source said Idra was also about to sign a supply contract for two 9,000 presses with a premium automaker in Europe, its first with a European group. Sources said Volvo has purchased two Idra Giga Presses for their new plant in eastern Europe.
🚙🔌 Ford EV Customers To Gain Access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers; Company to Add North American Charging Standard Port in Future EVs
Starting early next year, Ford EV customers will have access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada, in addition to the over 10,000 DC fast-chargers that are already part of the BlueOval Charge Network. This will give Ford EV customers unprecedented access to fast-charging. In 2025, Ford will offer next-generation electric vehicles with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector built-in, eliminating the need for an adapter to access Tesla Superchargers
Ford Cars Could Soon Drive Themselves Off the Assembly Line
Ford is trialling AI-powered automated driving technology designed to make the process more efficient. For the project, vehicles not only drive themselves off the assembly line, they also self‑drive to final testing stations and self-charge before parking up ready for delivery to customers.
“Ford is reinventing its portfolio of vehicles in Europe and exploring how we produce our new EVs is integral to that process,” said Ford project lead Frank Schwarz. “Introducing self-driving technology to the assembly line could support efficiency and safety while enabling employees to focus on critical tasks.”
Inside Rivian and Ford’s Plants, as They Race to Build EVs Faster
Ford's Vijayakumar Kempuraj on Digital Twin Adoption | Future Says
Ford Operates 3D Printers Autonomously
At Ford’s Advanced Manufacturing Center here, Javier is tasked with operating the 3D printers completely on his own. He is always on time, very precise in his movements, and he works most of the day. He never takes a lunch break or a coffee break—he doesn’t even ask for a paycheck. Javier is an autonomous mobile robot from KUKA, and he’s integral to the company’s development of an industry-first process to operate 3D printers with little or no human intervention.
Typically, different pieces of equipment from various suppliers are unable to interact because they do not run the same communication interface. Ford developed an application interface program that allows different pieces of equipment to speak the same language and send constant feedback to each other. For example, the Carbon 3D printer tells the KUKA autonomous mobile robot when the printed product will be finished, then the robot lets the printer know it has arrived and is ready to pick up parts. This innovative communication is what makes the whole process possible.
Ford rolls out autonomous robot-operated 3D printers in vehicle production
Leveraging an in-house-developed interface, Ford has managed to get the KUKA-built bot to ‘speak the same language’ as its other systems, and operate them without human interaction. So far, the firm’s patent-pending approach has been deployed to 3D print custom parts for the Mustang Shelby GT500 sports car, but it could yet yield efficiency savings across its production workflow.
“This new process has the ability to change the way we use robotics in our manufacturing facilities,” said Jason Ryska, Ford’s Director of Global Manufacturing Technology Development. “Not only does it enable Ford to scale its 3D printer operations, it extends into other aspects of our manufacturing processes – this technology will allow us to simplify equipment and be even more flexible on the assembly line.”
At present, the company is utilizing its setup to make low-volume, custom parts such as a brake line bracket for the Performance Package-equipped version of its Mustang Shelby GT500. Moving forwards though, Ford believes its program could be applied to make other robots in its production line more efficient as well, and it has filed several patents, not just on its interface, but the positioning of its KUKA bot.
Ford presents its prestigious IT Innovation Award to IBM
The Maximo Visual Inspection platform can help reduce defects and downtime, as well as enable quick action and issue resolution. Ford deployed the solution at several plants and embedded it into multiple inspection points per plant. The goal was to help detect and correct automobile body defects during the production process. These defects are often hard to spot and represent risks to customer satisfaction.
Although computer vision for quality has been around for 30 years, the lightweight and portable nature of our solution — which is based on a standard iPhone and makes use of readily available hardware — really got Ford’s attention. Any of their employees can use the solution, anywhere, even while objects are in motion.
Ford found the system easy to train and deploy, without needing data scientists. The system learned quickly from images of acceptable and defective work, so it was up and running within weeks, and the implementation costs were lower than most alternatives. The ability to deliver AI-enabled automation using an intuitive process, in their plants, with approachable technology, will allow Ford to scale out rapidly to other facilities. Ford immediately saw measurable success in the reduction of defects.
Ford Taps Non-IT Professionals to Broaden Its AI Expertise
Ford hopes that opening up AI development to a broader range of employees can significantly reduce the average time it takes to develop many applications, in some cases from months to weeks and even days.
Ford’s AI builders are working on an AI-optimization model that will help the company decide which vehicles should be shipped to which European countries so that car inventory is optimized to maximize sales, according to Ford. The model takes into account thousands of variables, including the carbon-dioxide emissions of each vehicle type, each countries’ emission standards, the amount of miles citizens in a particular country drive, as well as the adoption of electric vehicles and the size of vehicles preferred in each country. Ford said the number of variables being analyzed requires the use of AI, which is designed to handle large data sets.
AWS, Google, Microsoft apply expertise in data, software to manufacturing
As manufacturing becomes digitized, Google’s methodologies that were developed for the consumer market are becoming relevant for industry, said Wee, who previously worked in the semiconductor industry as an industrial engineer. “We believe we’re at a point in time where these technologies—primarily the analytics and AI area—that have been very difficult to use for the typical industrial engineer are becoming so easy to use on the shop floor,” he said. “That’s where we believe our competitive differentiation lies.”
Meanwhile, Ford is also selectively favoring human brain power over software to analyze data and turning more and more to in-house coders than applications vendors. “The solution will be dependent upon the application,” Mikula said. “Sometimes it will be software, and sometimes it’ll be a data analyst who crunches the data sources. We would like to move to solutions that are more autonomous and driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence. The goal is to be less reliant on purchased SaaS.”
Circular Economy 3D Printing: Opportunities to Improve Sustainability in AM
Within the 3D printing sector alone, there are various initiatives currently underway to develop closed-loop manufacturing processes that reuse and repurpose waste materials. Within the automotive sector, Groupe Renault is creating a facility entirely dedicated to sustainable automotive production through recycling and retrofitting vehicles using 3D printing, while Ford and HP have teamed up to recycle 3D printing waste into end-use automotive parts.
One notable project that is addressing circular economy 3D printing is BARBARA (Biopolymers with Advanced functionalities foR Building and Automotive parts processed through Additive Manufacturing), a Horizon 2020 project that brought together 11 partners from across Europe to produce bio-based materials from food waste suitable for 3D printing prototypes in the automotive and construction sectors.
Ford's Ever-Smarter Robots Are Speeding Up the Assembly Line
At a Ford Transmission Plant in Livonia, Michigan, the station where robots help assemble torque converters now includes a system that uses AI to learn from previous attempts how to wiggle the pieces into place most efficiently. Inside a large safety cage, robot arms wheel around grasping circular pieces of metal, each about the diameter of a dinner plate, from a conveyor and slot them together.
The technology allows this part of the assembly line to run 15 percent faster, a significant improvement in automotive manufacturing where thin profit margins depend heavily on manufacturing efficiencies.
Missing Chips Snarl Car Production at Factories Worldwide
Semiconductor shortages may persist throughout the first half as chipmakers adjust their operations, researcher IHS Market predicted on Dec. 23. Automakers will start to see component supply gradually ease in the next two to three months, China Passenger Car Association, which groups the country’s largest carmakers, said Monday.
Chipmakers favor consumer-electronics customers because their orders are larger than those of automakers – the annual smartphone market alone is more than 1 billion devices, compared with fewer than 100 million cars. Automaking is also a lower-margin business, leaving manufacturers unwilling to bid up chip prices as they avoid risking their profitability.
How Ford, GM, FCA, and Tesla are bringing back factory workers
In the last week, factory employees have returned to work across the United States to make cars for the country’s four main auto manufacturers: Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and Tesla. And each of those companies has published a plan showing how it will try to keep those workers from contracting or spreading COVID-19.
Those plans largely take the same shape. They’re presented in glossy PDF pamphlets, each starting with a letter to employees from the respective company’s highest-ranking executive overseeing workplace safety. Like any corporate document, they occasionally get bogged down with platitudes. But they all largely describe a lot of the same basic precautions, including supplying employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like masks or enforcing physical distancing of at least six feet.
How GM and Ford switched out pickup trucks for breathing machines
In the most severe cases of COVID-19, a patient’s lungs become so inflamed and full of fluid that they no longer deliver enough oxygen to the bloodstream to keep that person alive. One way to counteract this is by using a ventilator, which helps the patient’s lungs operate while the rest of the body fights off the virus.
As the spread of the new coronavirus bloomed into a pandemic, it became clear that there may not be enough ventilators in the United States (and around the world) to treat the coming wave of patients with these severe symptoms.
The Amazing Ways The Ford Motor Company Uses Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning
The Ford research lab has conducted research on computational intelligence for more than 20 years. About 15 years ago the company introduced an innovative misfire detection system—one of the first large-scale industrial applications of neural networks. Ford uses artificial intelligence to automate quality assurance as well; AI can detect wrinkles in car seats. In addition, neural networks help support Ford’s supply chain through inventory and resource management.
Cell Phones, Sporting Goods, and Soon, Cars: Ford Innovates with “Miracle” Material, Powerful Graphene for Vehicle Parts
Graphene has recently generated the enthusiasm and excitement in the automotive industry for paint, polymer and battery applications.
Dubbed a “miracle material” by some engineers, graphene is 200 times stronger than steel and one of the most conductive materials in the world. It is a great sound barrier and is extremely thin and flexible. Graphene is not economically viable for all applications, but Ford, in collaboration with Eagle Industries and XG Sciences, has found a way to use small amounts in fuel rail covers, pump covers and front engine covers to maximize its benefits.
“A small amount of graphene goes a long way, and in this case, it has a significant effect on sound absorption qualities,” said John Bull, president of Eagle Industries. The graphene is mixed with foam constituents, and tests done by Ford and suppliers has shown about a 17 percent reduction in noise, a 20 percent improvement in mechanical properties and a 30 percent improvement in heat endurance properties, compared with that of the foam used without graphene.