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HOW CANAM IMPROVED EFFICIENCY BY AUTOMATING ITS WELD QUALITY CONTROL

Canam

The Canam Group specializes in designing, manufacturing, and installing metal components, including steel joists, for the construction industry in North America. The company operates 10 plants in Canada and the United States and employs over 3,500 people.

Canam

Industry

Manufacturing

Service

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Canam's services cover every stage of a construction project, from design to framework installation. In a single year, they handle more than 7,000 projects, totalling over 300,000 units of joists. The steel structures produced by the company are used for constructing buildings, steel structures, and bridges, among other things.

Each part manufactured requires weld inspections to identify defective or missing welds. Ensuring the quality of welds is essential for guaranteeing the parts' safety. Up to this point, humans have been responsible for conducting these inspections.

Canam enlisted Vooban to create and implement an automated inspection system for steel joists that run on conveyors.

Solution

Vooban has developed a complete software solution for detecting faulty welds. It includes an app that allows users to visualize these errors easily.

The solution includes an AI-powered machine vision system that operates in real-time using live camera feeds. The model is trained to track and recognize the type of welds in pictures, determine their presence or absence on the joints, identify the beginning and end of the steel structures, and assess the quality of the welds.

The model can scan up to 5 stacked joists simultaneously and detect up to 3 types of defects. The app can alert inspectors when a defect is detected and quickly flag images with a low detection score. These flagged images will be used to retrain and improve the model.

Results

This technology allows Canam to affirm that they perform the highest quality control in the industry. A single missing weld on a joist could pose a danger if used in construction. However, with the nearly flawless performance of the AI system, a Canam product is a certified safe product.

The system achieves nearly 100% accuracy, drastically reducing manual inspection time. By automating the inspector’s role, production capacity has increased since employees’ time can now be redirected to welding. Across all production lines, the project has led to substantial efficiency gains.

Given the current shortage of workers in the market, particularly welders, this project gives Canam a competitive edge.