At BorgWarner's production center in Changnyeong, South Korea, the global shift toward electric vehicles isn't just a trend—it's an opportunity for manufacturing innovation. As automotive manufacturers worldwide retool their facilities for EV production, BorgWarner, an automotive supplier headquartered in Michigan, is setting new standards for precision and reliability in EV powertrain assembly.
“I'm excited that we're doing something new, and I’m still asking questions,” said Young-jun Lee, who heads the production technology team at BorgWarner’s Changnyeong facility. “Manufacturing, assembling, and inspecting all the components in an electric car is refreshing. It’s a really attractive job.”
For Lee and his team, the challenge is clear: EV power drives demand unprecedented levels of precision during assembly and inspection. While human expertise remains essential for the intricate assembly process, BorgWarner has discovered that advanced machine vision technology can dramatically enhance their quality control capabilities.
Combining human expertise with advanced vision systems
Delivering and controlling the amount of electricity used in an EV power drive is a complex process involving various components that must work together in perfect harmony. The motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy; the motor controller manages power flowing from the battery to the motor, and the inverter converts direct current into alternating current.
People are essential to the manufacturing process. The number of intricate EV components that need to be assembled and the amount of variables involved doesn’t lend itself to automation.
“Only people can assemble these components with precision, but they make mistakes,” said Daebeom Park, Senior Manager of the Production Technology team in Changyeong. “To find those mistakes, machine vision systems are really important.”
Finding the right vision system for highly technical applications like EV assembly can be a winding road. The EV industry requires higher-performing equipment than internal combustion engine vehicles.
“If you buy a sensor, you have to buy a good one, and if you buy a part, you have to buy a more advanced part to meet the specifications for the end user,” Lee said. “First, I need to ensure the machine vision system can solve the problem. If it can’t solve the problem – even if it's 10% or 20% cheaper – it will be useless.”
Putting “Safety First” into practice with EV defect detection
The risk of missing a defect or part in an EV motor far exceeds the cost of a vision system, Park said; safety of the passengers is the main concern. “Ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the final assembly inspection is of utmost importance,” he said. “You can't just use any vision system because it's about people's lives, you have to use the vision that performs the most reliably and the most precisely.”
Cognex solutions help improve employees' lives at BorgWarner too, Park said — some inspection processes required up to five people. Using one Cognex machine vision system instead allows BorgWarner to use those employees in other areas.
In BorgWarner’s EV power drive assembly application, the production technology team had to detect missing parts on a very flat surface. Some machine vision systems couldn’t detect defects because of the low contrast of the image, even when the solutions were repositioned or looking at a different portion of the power drive.
Advanced inspection with a single machine vision system
Cognex machine vision and automation systems also assist human operators in automotive electronics manufacturing as well. Room-temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone glue is used throughout electronic manufacturing to protect circuit boards, connectors, sensors, and other components from stress and temperature fluctuations.
Confirming the shape of RTV silicone gel is a challenging application with many possibilities for errors. The gel can be overapplied or underapplied, and the shape of the gel must be uniform without any bubbles or defects. These flaws can expose electronic components to dust and vibrations or cause a short circuit.
BorgWarner tried solutions from different machine vision suppliers before they landed on another 3D machine vision system from Cognex.
“We're quite satisfied with the fact that we've built the solution with one camera and one system, and I think that's probably the biggest advantage Cognex has,” Park said.
AI-powered inspection for critical safety components
BorgWarner’s Park-Lock system is a common safety mechanism in electric and hybrid vehicles. The device locks an automobile's transmission when parked, stopping it from rolling or moving unintentionally. The system comprises up to 20 parts, including locking mechanisms, electromechanical and hydraulic systems, sensors, and electronics.
Park-Lock is produced by manual operators as well, who tighten bolts and assemble parts. BorgWarner uses the Cognex In-Sight 2800 machine vision system with edge learning, an easy-to-use AI technology, to verify that all Park-Lock components are installed correctly.
“There's springs, there's thin nuts, there's many [potential] assembly mistakes,” Park said. “When you put a bolt into a thin, flat part, it’s hard to tell if it's flush and meets the required tolerance with most vision systems. But since we've had the In-Sight 2800, we've been able to catch all of these defects, and it's solved 100% of our problems.”
Shaping tomorrow's EV manufacturing today
From power drive assembly to Park-Lock system verification, the integration of 3D vision systems and AI-powered inspection has enabled BorgWarner to achieve new levels of precision while optimizing its workforce deployment.
As the automotive industry continues its electric transformation, BorgWarner's experience shows that success lies in finding the right balance between human expertise and advanced inspection technology. Their approach isn't just about catching defects — it's about building confidence in every component that leaves their facility.
Ready to enhance your EV manufacturing process? Learn more about Cognex machine vision solutions for EV manufacturing or contact our experts to discuss your inspection challenges.