Ford Motor Company – emphasis on “motor company” – has developed a smartphone app, but it’s not for consumers.
The app effectively transforms phones carried by factory staff into “Portable Quality Assurance Devices” strapped to the workers’ wrists.
The app is designed to help manage and improve the quality inspection process. The app eliminates the need for paper records and reduces the need to walk around the factory by up to one kilometer per day, according to Ford.
“We have varied options and features across our vehicle range and digital innovation in our plants helps to generate lean methods within the manufacturing process,” said Linda Cash, VP of manufacturing for Ford Europe.
“The ability to simply consult a smartphone screen to check any aspect of a vehicle’s quality and specification helps to guarantee highest levels of product quality and improves work processes and manufacturing efficiency,” Cash added.
The app was first developed at Ford’s manufacturing Facility in Valencia, Spain.
Ramón García, production manager at the facility, proposed the app after witnessing coworkers and family increasingly using mobile devices like cell phones and iPads for leisure and during work breaks.
“Smart mobile technology increasingly helps my colleagues and my family organize our personal lives. It struck me that we could apply similar technology to the workplace and improve the automotive production process,” García said. “This technology helps us to better handle the increased complexity of more vehicles and more vehicle specifications being produced on a single assembly line.”
Ford worked with a local Spanish company, Visia Solution S.L, to develop the app for Android platforms.
Feedback from production line workers concerning the app has been positive, García adds. Ford is looking for other areas where similar digital tools could be used to further increase production quality and efficiency.
With the successful implementation of the project, the new Portable Quality Assurance Device app will be distributed to other Ford plants.
To continue down the path of the wearables trend, Ford has recently opened their Automotive Wearables Experience Lab at its Research and Innovation Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
Engineers and scientists at the facility are working to integrate wearable devices with vehicles to enable drive-assist technologies to be more aware of the driver behind the wheel. Their research may one day allow our cars to know when we’re tired or even stressed. The vehicle could then intelligently recommend safe pullover points or give directions to an affordable hotel!