Automatic in-process inspection offers such immense advantages over manual inspection that one might wonder why it hasn't already been adopted across the manufacturing world. The answer usually comes down to two concerns: How do I get this technology qualified for my specific application? And once it's qualified, what does implementation actually look like on my shop floor?
These are legitimate questions — and the answers are more straightforward than most manufacturers expect. Aligned Vision has guided customers through this entire process many times, including qualifying an automatic inspection predecessor to LASERVISION under FAA and DOD standards back in 2001. Our engineers have been down this road repeatedly, and they know how to streamline it.
This guide covers both halves of the journey: the qualification process and the step-by-step implementation. By the end, you should have a clear picture of what it takes — and confidence that it's well within reach.
Part 1: Qualifying New Quality Monitoring Technology
Anyone who has traversed the qualification process for a new manufacturing technology knows just how lengthy and complex it can be. Qualifying a new system typically requires progressing through a large number of gates — with good reason. For products serving as critical structural components in high-safety applications, undetected manufacturing defects create potentially calamitous risks. The process exists to document the trustworthiness of your products, and that goal is worth protecting.
But the process doesn't have to be as convoluted as it often feels. Here are the keys to getting through it efficiently.
Assemble the right team
The first and most important step is assembling a team that knows the way through the qualification maze. When Aligned Vision helped qualify an early automatic inspection system under FAA and DOD standards, the team included Aligned Vision application engineers, a design engineer and manufacturing engineer from the customer, and an FAA inspector. Each perspective is essential: together, they safeguard the quality, consistency, and safety of every component built with the new system.
As a technology provider that has navigated this process with customers many times, Aligned Vision brings that experience to your team from day one.
Use Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) to assess readiness
With the rise of Industry 4.0 and AI, many new quality monitoring technologies are being marketed as production-ready before they truly are. Vendor assurances that "we're working on it" give you no reliable basis for moving forward. Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) provide a quantitative checklist that gives you a clear, objective picture of a technology's maturity — from early concept through full commercial deployment.
LASERVISION has achieved TRL-9 in aerospace applications, the highest level, meaning it has been proven in operational environments. That matters enormously when you are planning a qualification program and need confidence that the technology will perform as specified.
Develop specifications that are safe and achievable
Many manufacturers talk about "zero defect" goals, but with new inspection technology, it is important to define precisely what that means in your context. A specification that is too tight turns your inspection system into a part rejection machine. A specification that is too loose defeats its purpose.
New quality monitoring systems frequently detect features that were previously undetectable. Your team must work closely together to determine the significance of each newly detectable anomaly — distinguishing genuine attribute failures from acceptable variances. This is where having both engineering and floor-level perspectives on your team pays dividends.
Take a holistic approach to process and product requirements
Ensuring the safety of critical structural components means satisfying the requirements of all stakeholders — regulators, OEM engineers, quality managers, and floor personnel. Each has a different vantage point on what "compliant" means for your product. A qualification plan that accounts for all of these perspectives from the outset avoids costly surprises late in the process.
Create a transition plan
Your qualification plan should define exactly how you will transition from your existing inspection protocols to the new system. For inspection of critical structural components, best practice is to run the new system in parallel with your current methods during a first phase. A comparative study identifies any flaws detected only by the manual protocol or only by the new system, allowing your team to determine the cause of each discrepancy and confirm that LASERVISION is performing to specification.
One of LASERVISION's key advantages here: because it does not interfere with production operations, it can begin collecting inspection images in the background while your existing SOP continues. Your production is not disrupted, and the parallel data collection builds the evidence base for qualification simultaneously.
Part 2: Implementing LASERVISION on Your Shop Floor
Once the qualification pathway is mapped, the next question is practical: what does actually getting LASERVISION up and running look like? The process is straightforward and designed from the ground up to minimize production disruption. Here are the four steps.
- Perform background data collection
LASERVISION's inspection analysis algorithms are generated through AI deep learning (AI/DL), and like all AI applications, their accuracy depends on the quality and quantity of training data. That data comes in the form of calibrated images showing both correctly and incorrectly built features of your work-in-progress (WIP), as well as anomalies like foreign object debris (FOD).
Collecting this data is non-disruptive by design. Position a LASERVISION unit aimed at the WIP, and it will capture calibrated images while your current production operations — including your existing inspection method — continue normally. If you are already using LASERGUIDE or another laser projection system, simply substitute LASERVISION: it runs all existing laser projection data while simultaneously collecting inspection images.
For rarely occurring anomalies that may not appear frequently enough in live production, Aligned Vision's complete development laboratory can capture and tag large quantities of images from production artifacts containing deliberately created defects. This ensures your AI model is trained on the full range of conditions it will encounter.
- Generate accurate analysis algorithms
With sufficient image data in hand, Aligned Vision's engineers develop the inspection models — a task that typically requires only one to two days and produces an initial inspection accuracy of 99% or higher. Because the model is built on AI deep learning, it is continuously fine-tuned as new production data is collected, rapidly advancing toward and beyond six sigma accuracy.
Aligned Vision has proven experience developing these algorithms, and our open platform means we can also work seamlessly with your in-house or third-party AI development teams if you have them.
- Install LASERVISION and train your operators
Total time for installation and operator training combined is typically one to two days. Most or all of the installation occurs while production continues, or during regularly scheduled production stoppages. Training may similarly be completed during normal operations.
Operators need to know very little about LASERVISION to use it effectively. Setup is automated. Inspections run with no operator interaction required — they happen in the background as part of the production workflow. The operator's only active role is responding when a nonconformance is detected: LASERVISION projects a laser pattern directly to the location of the flaw on the WIP, and the user interface on both the control computer and the handheld touchscreen remote alerts the operator. The system does not advance to the next production step until the flaw has been corrected and re-inspected, or a supervisor has explicitly overridden it.
- Operate LASERVISION in parallel, then transition
Because LASERVISION does not interfere with production, it initially runs alongside your existing inspection protocol. This parallel operation period serves two purposes: it builds the comparative data needed for qualification, and it builds confidence — yours and ours — that LASERVISION is performing to specification in your specific environment.
A comparative study identifies any flaws detected by LASERVISION but missed by the existing method, or vice versa. Each discrepancy is investigated and used to fine-tune performance where needed. Once you and Aligned Vision's application engineers have confirmed that LASERVISION is operating to spec, it becomes your primary inspection method — and your previous inspection protocol is retired.
What to Expect: Timeline and Disruption
The timeline from initial data collection to LASERVISION becoming your primary inspection method varies by application complexity, but the structure is consistent: background data collection runs in parallel with your existing operations (no downtime), algorithm development takes one to two days, installation and training take one to two days, and the parallel validation period runs until your team has full confidence in system performance.
For manufacturers currently using LASERGUIDE for laser projection, the transition is even smoother — LASERVISION is a direct drop-in replacement that maintains all existing laser projection functions from day one while the inspection capability is being developed and validated.
Common Questions About Qualification
Manufacturers new to the qualification process often have similar questions. Here are the ones we hear most frequently:
- "How long does the full qualification process take?" — It depends on the regulatory environment and complexity of your application. Aligned Vision has navigated this for customers ranging from FAA-regulated aerospace to industrial composites. We will give you a realistic timeline estimate based on your specific situation at the outset.
- "What if the system detects things our current process never flagged?" — This is common. New inspection systems frequently surface anomalies that were previously undetectable. Your qualification team will work through each newly detected feature type to determine its significance and set appropriate accept/reject criteria.
- "Can we qualify LASERVISION while staying in production?" — Yes. This is specifically how LASERVISION is designed to be deployed. Background data collection and parallel operation are both non-disruptive to your existing production schedule.
- "What if our application is different from existing LASERVISION use cases?" — Aligned Vision works closely with each new customer to apply existing capabilities to their specific needs and innovate where necessary. We have done this for wind blade manufacturers requiring 15m x 15m fields of view, for welding applications, and for a range of composite structures beyond aerospace.
The Bottom Line
Implementing automatic in-process inspection is a significant step — but it is not the leap into the unknown that it may initially appear to be. The qualification process has a proven structure. Implementation is designed to be non-disruptive. And Aligned Vision's team has navigated both sides of this journey with customers across industries for over two decades.
The manufacturers who have made this transition — including aerospace companies now operating at beyond six sigma reliability with inspection times reduced by more than 95% — would tell you the same thing: the process is straightforward, the results are transformative, and the cost of waiting is higher than the cost of moving forward.
Ready to get started? Contact Aligned Vision for an onsite or online LASERVISION demonstration.
aligned-vision.com