Sensing solutions are an integral and important aspect of today's automobile industry, says Prakash Rao

The Indian auto industry is undergoing a tremendous change. So rapid are the winds of change that a distinct picture is available on the roads of India where the Ambassador, which is actually the Morris Oxford of the 50s, shares the road space with the latest from BMW and Mercedes Benz. The Indian automotive industry is going through the winds of change in the recent years like never before.

A highly recognised supplier operating in the auto sector, Pepperl+Fuchs, has been an integral part of the change that is driving the auto sector in India. A leading manufacturer of industrial sensors and sensor systems, the company has brought forth new concepts in plant engineering for vehicle production. These have been well covered by automotive specific products even as the global key account structure of Pepperl+Fuchs provides an ideal co-operation with the worldwide automotive industry. Sensing solutions from Pepperl+Fuchs aim at improving the accuracy and efficiency of production and assembly line processes. They make sure that the four important units (shops) of an auto-manufacturing facility run at their most efficient. An automotive specialist team at Pepperl+Fuchs supports efficiency enhancement of press shop, body shop, paint shop and final assembly operations.

Safety is of utmost importance for those working in close proximity to high capacity press. Pepperl+Fuchs offers a wide range of safety light curtains and palm button devices for this application. Special products such as ultrasonic double metal sheet detectors and reduction factor 1 sensors play an important role in avoiding double sheet being fed into the press. In the case of the body shop extensive use of special purpose machines and robots have stepped up the use of artificial intelligent eyes. Pepperl+Fuchs offers vision sensors and systems for image processing solutions to the body shop and as one of the few suppliers worldwide, is able to meet different demands for image processing. Consider the paint shop and products that can work in hot and hazardous atmosphere are the primary requirement of this shop. For the paint shop Pepperl+Fuchs offers high temperature sensor and intrinsically safe barriers. Also, the challenge of identification of body in paint shop has been over come by introduction of OIT System that can work up to 500Deg temperature. For final assembly operations, identification plays an important role as parts and sub-asemblies of different models and from different shops are married together. It is crucial that the control system knows what capacity engine should be mounted on which type of chassis. The type of engine for a certain chassis can be identified by effectively using RFID technology from Pepperl+Fuchs. In fact, Pepperl+Fuchs offers all types of identification namely, RFID, Barcode and 2D matrix.

(For further information contact: Prakash Rao, Key Account Manager - Automotive, Pepperl+Fuchs (India) Pvt Ltd at prao@in.pepperl-fuchs.com. Tel: 080-2837 8030)