The car today is often referred to as a smartphone on wheels but what about the factories where these are built? Well technology today – especially AI and Machine Learning is not just helping automobiles get smarter but also these manufacturing units are transforming into smart factories boosting efficiency, churning out faster product launches, controlling costs and reducing defects.
In an exclusive conversation with Financial Express Online, Gopala Krishnan C S, CMO, Hyundai Motor India highlights how deploying digital solutions are helping “ reduce the defects and the time to launch new products.”
The big time advantage
He explained how the digital deep-learning based vision scanning system has cut down on inspection time as well as employee fatigue. Citing an example, at the final stage of assembly, he pointed out that While earlier the operator had to manually check more than 30-plus parts individually, remember specifications as per models and variants one by one. They had to “verify the code and that used to be a time consuming and laborious exercise.”
But not any more! The digital solutions now enable operators to “just scan the barcode of the particular car over the entire external surface of the car so that they can confirm almost 30-Plus parts – in terms of the availability, specification, colour and other specification. All this helps us to enhance the quality to reduce the launch time to improve the productivity like this,” he pointed out.
Through this system, he added that instead of the human eye, “the camera checks the parts as per the specifications and the model and it comes up just okay. This is a deep learning solution that we have developed. It helps the operator to reduce fatigue and save time. Defects are also reduced and quality is confirmed.” He explained that as a direct benefit of cutting down the rate of defects has led to significant savings as “when there is no defect obviously the cost of repairing is not there and can save huge cost.”
The VEX factor
It’s been 5 years since Hyundai Motor Group has developed the new Vest EXoskeleton (VEX). In very simple terms, it is a wearable robot to help ease work pressure for operators who spend long hours working in overhead environments. This wearable vest includes a polycentric axis – combining multiple pivot points with multi-link muscular assistance – to function, eliminating the need for a battery and making it much lighter.
The CMO uses the example of the VEX to highlight how innovation can enhance productivity inside the plant. “It has helped us to significantly reduce operator fatigue. When they are less tired, their productivity also increases. We are trying to enhance the operators’ productivity and reduce fatigue without compromising any of the tenets of manufacturing,” he reiterated. “we have been deploying various digital solutions across shops to enhance the competencies. Wherever there is hope, we are trying to implement all those things and the journey is continuing,” he emphasised.
A smart and sustainable future
Innovation today is not just about cutting cost and improving efficiency …. increasingly it is also about reducing carbon footprint. Gopala Krishnan outlined how Hyundai factories globally are on-course, in terms of becoming, “smart, sustainable factories of future and we got a very clear cut roadmap. We are taking a very conscious decision in implementing various technologies.”
The focus according to him is on ways to “improve the overall efficiency or the metrics.” How it can translate into meaningful return on investment is the constant endeavour and in terms of sustainability, as Hyundai as a group marches to be carbon neutral by 2045? “Right now renewable energy sources account for 64% and we will be achieving 100% mark by 2025. We got a dedicated 10-megawatt solar plant at the Chennai site and our plan is to convert to 100% by next year. We have a very clear roadmap, become a sustainable and intelligent factory,” said the beaming CMO.
