Audi is significantly advancing its use of artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations, aiming to improve efficiency, enhance quality, and foster innovation. With over 100 AI-driven projects in various stages of development, the company is actively integrating AI into series production and key logistics processes. This strategic focus is part of Audi’s broader objective to fully harness AI and data in both internal operations and customer-facing products and services.
A notable implementation is the use of AI for quality control of spot welds in car body construction. At the Neckarsulm site, AI analyzes approximately 1.5 million spot welds on 300 vehicles each shift, surpassing the previous manual ultrasound-based method that checked around 5,000 welds per vehicle. This advancement allows employees to focus on potential anomalies, facilitating more efficient and targeted quality control.
The success of this AI system has prompted plans to install the necessary technical infrastructure at additional Volkswagen Group locations, including Audi Brussels, the Volkswagen plant in Emden, and Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt. An expert team is working to identify differences in weld settings at these sites to retrain the AI model accordingly, ensuring optimal performance across various production environments.
Beyond spot welding, Audi is exploring the use of AI-generated data to optimize other processes, such as predictive maintenance. This approach aligns with Audi’s 360factory production strategy, which aims to make production at Audi locations worldwide more efficient. Gerd Walker, Audi Board Member for Production and Logistics, emphasized the potential of AI in series production, stating that digitalized assembly lines are foundational to Audi’s vision for future production.
In addition to production enhancements, Audi is focusing on making its AI processes audit- and certification-proof. Development at the Neckarsulm location has been carried out in close coordination with the German Association for Quality (DGQ) and the Fraunhofer Institutes IAO and IPA. This collaboration ensures that AI-based tests are transparent and verifiable, addressing the current lack of independent standards or certifications for AI applications in manufacturing.
Audi’s integration of AI extends to other areas, including the use of AI algorithms in the Ingolstadt press shop to identify flaws in components. This procedure is supported by software based on an artificial neural network, capable of detecting the smallest flaws and marking them reliably. Such initiatives demonstrate Audi’s commitment to leveraging AI for continuous improvement in production quality and efficiency.
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