Customer: Linamar Role: Vision Engineer Via: Ascension Automation Solutions Location: Guelph, Ontario Timeline: Aug 2025

The Challenge

A CNC machining line producing gears was experiencing intermittent quality escapes:

  • CNC occasionally skips teeth during machining
  • Operators entering wrong dimensions
  • Air supply instability causing inconsistent part positioning
  • Manual checks missing edge cases

Stand-alone vision inspection station integrated into the production cell:

System Design

Designed a PLC-integrated vision inspection system to detect missing or incorrect gear teeth within cycle-time constraints and real factory conditions.

Camera, lens, lighting, and trigger strategy were tuned specifically for the cell geometry. PLC-synchronized capture timing was critical to reliable inspection.

Robot placing part before inspection:

Bench Testing

Built an offline bench test to simulate real-world failure modes before touching production equipment:

  • Missing and incorrect tooth detection
  • Wrong dimension input scenarios
  • Camera and lighting proof of principle

Integration and Commissioning

Key integration work:

  • Camera trigger timing optimization
  • Vision to PLC handshake coordination
  • Kuka robot teach points for part handling
  • System validation and fault logging

Full inspection station overview:

Results

  • Stable detection of missing and incorrect teeth
  • Quality escapes caught before reaching downstream operations
  • Early bench validation enabled smooth production commissioning
  • Operators confident in automated inspection replacing manual checks

Demo Video

Tools and Technologies

  • IFM Machine Vision Systems
  • Siemens TIA Portal (PLC)
  • Kuka Robot Programming