Automated production quality control

Steel production line at Štore Steel was updated with a great example of a complex quality control system using MonoDAQ hardware and DEWESoft software – each steel bar coming out of the sawing machine must be precisely measured for straightness and checked for color marks.

»MonoDAQ designed and built a high-quality system for measuring straightness of flat steel bars. They succeeded in creating a system that measures straightness along with the existing sawing operation and does not extend the work cycle, while giving results that are more accurate as the previous method of measurement and remove the need for an additional quality check, saving a lot of time.« – Marcel Jevšnik, Technologist in Cold processing plant, Štore Steel d.o.o.

Learn more: straightness measurement system integrated into a steel bar production line.

Which parameters are measured?

Anything from physical dimensions of the products to response to test loading (with force, vibration or pressure) and electrical characteristics such as power consumption can be measured on the final product or during its production process.

What equipment is used?

Distance sensors, load cells, pressure sensors, accelerometers, thermocouples and many other sensors are all used in automated quality control systems. Signals from sensors are acquired by data acquisition devices and transfered into a powerful software package. The software must be able to run a large amount of mathematical operations on the fly to allow implementations of complex algorithms for determining the end result of a quality check. The result is usually communicated to a PLC over digital I/O terminals, UDP or TCP/IP network or using a standard protocol such as OPC UA.

Why is automated quality control in production important?

Most of the large production run products are placed on very competitive markets where failures are not acceptable. Total quality control is demanded by the customers and it is much more affordable for the production company to invest in state of the art quality control equipment than to allow its product to fail in customer’s hands.