Ex-Ford Plant Worker-Exec Creates Tech To Avoid Recalls

Jeff Trumble likes to say he grew up on the factory floor at Ford Motor Co

F
. It’s where he started at age 18. Over the next 30 years he rose through the ranks eventually to management positions in product development, design and engineering.

He then took a buyout and used the money and his extensive experience to start a new company, Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Trumble Inc., that’s developed technology Trumble says could not only spike recalls before they happen, but correct mistakes without the assembly line ever having to stop.

The technology is called Reveal—artificial intelligence software that looks at every cycle performed by manufacturing machinery and searches for the one clue that something could be going wrong—variability.

“It’s variation that eventually causes warranty issues in the field, because something is not exactly to its design specifications…then you have what they call stackup issues where things are within spec but just barely, and one part is running on the high side and another on the low, but they introduce stresses because they’re on the extreme boundary of the specs and this is what leads to failures in the field and warranty issues,” said Trumble in a recent interview.

Unlike automotive manufacturing systems developed in the late 20^th century that gave assembly workers the ability to pull a cord and stop the line when a mistake was detected, Reveal is aimed at catching and correcting errors on the fly.

“The goal is for line to never stop without sacrificing quality or throughput, that’s what leads to increased profitability,” explained Trumble. “We’ve automated that challenge to control variability. The computer information technology is looking at all the metrics of all the connected equipment, whether it’s measurement data like a diameter size, flatness on a milled surface or torque on a fastener in an assembly process, everything has design specifications.”

He uses the case of a machine that must hone the diameter of engine cylinder heads to within microns.

“When the system sees diameter is starting to encroach the upper limit because the tools are wearing, then it wirelessly sends a message to (the operator’s) smart phone which displays the image, shows the trend and also shows by how much they need to adjust it to get it back in control. The operators, with their expertise and knowledge of the equipment, make the adjustment before any product is lost.”

Reveal does not require any sort of major installation. Trumble explains the sensors are already present in the factory’s equipment and all of the motors, temperatures and pressures are available in programmable logic controllers (PLCs).

“When you network those controllers all that data goes to a central database. We integrate at the database level, which means we don’t require they rip anything out to leverage this technology. It’s designed to leverage their previous investment. The data is already sitting there. We integrate with the database itself.”

Reveal has been in use at a Ford powertrain plant as well as six Magna International factories and several plants for automaker Stellantis including the Trenton (Michigan) Engine plant south of Detroit, “with over 300 machines and over 25,000 process parameters that we’re looking at every 60 seconds,” said Trumble.

One of the key lessons Trumble says he learned from all his years of experience is the value of what he calls “the human capital on the factory floor—all those creative, innovative human beings that are not educated but tasked with getting product out the door. The plant is the revenue generator for the company but the people on the plant floor tasked with achieving it are the last ones to get any information.”

Indeed Reveal was designed so using and understanding it does not require any computer, data analytics or data mining skills since most operators are simply too busy and others may not have had the educational foundation to grasp those skills, Trumble said.

In the end, the former Ford plant worker and executive wanted to put his experience to use to not only improve the quality of the products being built, but the job quality for those on the floor building them.

“We built the technology to empower the front line worker.”