Jaguar marks its cars

06 August 2008

A Merseyside, UK based automotive manufacturing plant has upped quality control with a vehicle body tracking system from Denca Controls.

The facility, that manufactures Jaguar X-Type and Freelander 2 vehicles, chose Widnes based Denca to provide the solution that starts with ID engraving and uses data-tagging.

Alan Brennan, joint managing director of Denca, said: ‘With both Freelander 2 and X-Type models in production on the same line concurrently, and with numerous model variants and specifications, Jaguar required a solution that would enable high levels of complete body tracking throughout the factory; from body in white through paint, trim and final manufacturing stages.’

The body in white is engraved with a 7-digit identity number that remains with the vehicle throughout all production stages in order to identify the vehicle type, trim and complete specification.

‘After considering all suitable technologies,’ added Brennan, ‘we selected an Edward Pryor engraving machine.’

‘The system marks the vehicle in question with a ‘car in’ number in the wheel arch and this data is then tracked through the body in white and paint stages via use of strategically placed vision recognition cameras.’

Following the painting stages, the vehicle is then bar code tagged to identify it throughout all remaining manufacturing stages.

For this part of the process, Denca installed 20 Sick bar code scanners throughout the trim and final manufacturing stages. All information gathered then feeds directly into Jaguar’s QLS (Quality Logging System).

Brennan concluded: ‘Any likelihood of human error in reporting is negated to ensure the highest levels of quality control. Prompt fault identification and reporting back into the system is enabled. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, logged data guards against the risk of litigation by confirming that every vehicle is constructed to a precise specification.’


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