Audi 2014 Annual Report Download - page 36

The design data and the actual vehicle are
compared for quality control purposes.
Optical overlay enables deviations to be
detected extremely quickly, modeled
in real time, analyzed and corrected, if
necessary. It is also possible to optically
link photo-realistic component data,
such as for a bumper, with the vehicle. For
the user, this merges the virtual with
the real world.
sheet is pulled over the tool. Actuators
then determine automatically how
tautly the sheet must be tensioned. Each
sheet can thus be pressed optimally
based on its individual characteristics.
“That is a new defi nition of precision,”
says Waltl proudly.
He learned precision from the ground
up. Waltl began his career over  years
ago with an apprenticeship as a tool-
maker at Auto Union Ingolstadt. As an
apprentice back then, his tools of the
trade were still a slide rule and a draft-
ing table. He became interested early
on in the digitization of his fi eld of work.
“I was one of the fi rst programmers at
Audi Production. I fed punch cards into
computers the size of this entire room,”
he recalls. Waltl is among the pioneers
of the third industrial revolution.
Waltl and Neugebauer are now on their
way to the intelligent tool in the press
shop. They move from the biting cold of
this February morning into Hall N.
Hanging next to the entrance is the en-
gine hood of an Audi A – the fi rst pro-
duction part produced on the new press
line in . Precision is the press shop’s
aspiration. The body parts produced here
lay the foundation for Audi’s high quality
standards. The employees have signed
o on this concept. Their signatures on
the engine hood in the entrance area re-
mind them of that every day.
As many as , parts are produced
in Hall N each day. Like giant blue
stamps, the pressing machines press the
various molds into the steel or alumi-
num with a precision measured in hun-
dredths of a millimeter. A single hair
between the tool and the material or
just a bit too little oil can cause the part
to be rejected later during quality con-
trol. So the tool on this press line thinks
for itself. Sensors measure how the
Quality assurance with augmented reality : With the “Window to
the World” system, employees can today perform an extremely
precise variance analysis between the design data and a component,
in the engine compartment for example.
036
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037WE CREATE PROGRESS
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