Ford employees at the company’s Dagenham Engine Plant in the UK started using drones to safely and efficiently conduct inspections. Previously, plant inspections took as long as 12 hours to complete each area, so with the introduction of aerial technology, an inspection now only takes 12 minutes.
Instead of using automated extendable platforms and scaffolding to manually check gantries that are over 130-feet-long, a single drone could be used.
Photo credit: Ford.
” We wanted to take the risk of these inspections away from the employee,” said Pat Manning, Machining manager, Ford Dagenham Engine Plant. “By using a drone, we can do that.”
The drone pilot can see everything that the camera sees in real time thanks to the controller’s built-in monitor, so Ford employees don’t have to worry about falling while making inspections.
According to CNBC, Ford used to shut down a plant at least once a year to check gantries, and teams of up to six employees used to bring in motorized lifts. Now, a drone team of two is all it takes to get the job done, and plant operations can still continue, even with a drone inspection.
