CASE STUDY

AI-Based Automated Surface Inspection at a Leading Metal Finishing Supplier

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Key Challenges

A supplier in the metal finishing industry faced increasing pressure to automate its surface inspection process. Manual visual inspection had become a major cost driver due to high labor requirements and growing difficulties in recruiting skilled personnel for monotonous tasks. In addition, inconsistent inspection results led to quality issues and costly customer complaints.

With OEM customers demanding higher standards and automation as a prerequisite for maintaining supplier rankings, the company needed a solution that would ensure consistent inspection quality, reduce costs, and enable full process traceability.

The complexity of the inspection task was considerable. A wide variety of parts were processed on the same production line, featuring diverse geometries and surface characteristics such as concave and convex shapes, partial transparency, glossy coatings, and printed areas. Detecting typical defects like inclusions, bumps, and scratches with traditional camera-based systems proved highly challenging.

  • High personnel effort in manual inspection resulting in excessive costs.
  • Difficult staff recruitment for monotonous and repetitive tasks.
  • Competitive pressure from automated low-cost production abroad.
  • Quality issues and costly claims caused by undetected surface defects.
  • OEM requirements making automation essential to improve supplier ranking.
  • Integration with robotic systems for automatic OK/NOK sorting.
  • Diverse part categories processed on the same production line.
  • Challenging surface types including concave, convex, transparent, glossy, and printed materials.
  • Complex defect classes such as inclusions, bumps, and scratches.

Implementation

In collaboration with the customer, Data Spree implemented an AI-based surface inspection system that enables fully automated quality control within the existing production environment. The solution was integrated inline into the production line and connected directly to the robotic handling system for automated OK/NOK sorting.

Advanced deep learning algorithms analyze high-resolution image data in real time and detect even the smallest surface defects with high precision, regardless of variations in geometry, material, or reflection. The flexible system architecture allows the inspection of different part categories using the same setup, reducing changeover times and simplifying operation.

A transparent and intuitive user interface provides complete process traceability, allowing operators to monitor inspection results, review defect images, and analyze performance metrics. This ensures consistent quality assurance and supports continuous process optimization.

  • Introduction of an AI-based system for automated surface inspection.
  • Inline integration into the existing production line with direct robot communication.
  • AI algorithms detect surface defects with high precision across varying geometries.
  • Unified inspection setup for multiple part categories.
  • Transparent user interface enabling full process traceability and quality monitoring.

Results

By introducing AI-based surface inspection, the customer significantly improved both product quality and process efficiency. The automated system ensures consistently precise defect detection, reduces manual effort, and minimizes downtime. The project demonstrates how intelligent vision technology elevates quality assurance in industrial manufacturing and lays the foundation for scalable and future-proof production processes.

ROI <12 months
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This project was not about standard inspection but about extremely challenging surfaces with varying geometries and materials. Our AI learned to precisely distinguish between gloss, texture, and reflection, something that even experienced operators can hardly achieve consistently. The fact that the customer was able to fully automate the process inline and achieve ROI in less than a year demonstrates the enormous potential of AI in industrial quality control.

Eric Dörheit
Managing Director, Data Spree GmbH

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TElefon:
+49 (0) 30 220 118 36
E-Mail:
info@data-spree.com
Adresse:
Data Spree GmbH
Waldenserstr. 2-4
10551 Berlin
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