Ford Motor Company has instituted a quality-control system that digitally photographs every single part that goes into the 400,000 cars and vans, and 330,000 engines, built each year at its Valencia, Spain manufacturing plant.The Gremlin Test has been extended to all 34 stages of assembly at Ford's Valencia plant. Image credit: Ford Motor Company.

As a test of its new Vision System technology, Ford employees are being tasked with secretly planting wrong and faulty parts onto the assembly line, including incomplete steering wheels, defective engine components and incorrect dashboards. “Gremlin Tests” are an innovative way of ensuring that the new quality-control process is working correctly. “The Vision System is crucial to ensuring every single part of each vehicle is just right,” says Xabier Garciandia, technical specialist, Valencia Engine Vision System, Ford of Europe. “The Gremlin Test means we can ensure that system is working perfectly. It is a game with a very serious point. The team is really excited when they find one of our parts, and all the time we are making them harder to spot.”

Ford says the Vision System captures more than a billion photos every 14 days, comparable to the number of photos uploaded to Instagram in Europe. This also helps to generate a composite image—consisting 3,150 digital photographs—that highlights any discrepancies to engineers on the spot.

The Gremlin Test has been extended to all 34 stages of assembly at the Valencia plant, and Ford is considering it for rollout worldwide.