Imaginestics: Research and Development

Problem / Purpose

DoD-defined total asset visibility as the key initiative and prescribed IUID technology in 2003
To date, only 4% of the estimated 100 million items have been marked
Key challenges are:

Majority of IUID-relevant legacy parts have technical data that is scanned raster 2D drawings
6-24 hours per part to identify the markings on the legacy drawings and capture-related information to create the ECO
$3K - $5K per part to generate the marking

Solution

VizSeek's shape search and OCR technologies automatically recognize the marking on the drawing and capture the related text to create the ECO; for full-scale multi-sheet drawings, VizSeek's VizStitch technology stitches the frames to form a single composite drawing; VizSeek automated the mundane, significantly decreasing the time and cost of generating the ECO and marking.

Customers / Stakeholders

Department of Defense
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
Air Force Research Laboratory
U.S. Air Force
Oklahoma City ALC

Benefits / Milestones

Reduced cost by 15:1 from current $3-$5K per part
Reduced cycle time by 80% per ECO creation
Improved quality by reducing human errors in marking identification on the drawings
Established a cost-effective process for IUID marking identification and ECO creation

Research & Development

IUID Markings for Legacy Parts