IP Rings, a leading manufacturer of automotive components, partnered with Jidoka Technologies to automate the counting and packaging of piston rings

Overview

‍IP Rings is a frontline manufacturer of precision-engineered piston rings and transmission components for high-performance, low-emission engines. Established in 1991 as a joint venture with technical collaboration from Nippon Piston Ring Company, Japan, the company supplies to top-tier OEMs globally.

‍Piston rings are dispatched to customers in predefined quantities based on model and application. Because customer processes are automated, every single package must carry the exact count. Variants range from 0.3mm to 5mm in thickness—making manual counting not just time-consuming but also error-prone and physically stressful for operators.

‍The Opportunity

‍Manual counting introduced critical risks and significant bottlenecks for IP Rings:

• 3–4 minutes per pack to count rings by hand
• Frequent fatigue and eye strain among workers
• Customer complaints due to inaccurate counts
• 40+ ring variants requiring unique configurations
• Need for a solution that works without resetting machines

‍IP Rings required a robust, one-stop solution to automate ring counting across all their SKUs without changing hardware or camera setups.

Before Jidoka, counting piston rings was a slow, manual process—taking up to four minutes per package and placing a heavy strain on our operators, especially with thinner rings. With over 40 variants and varying pack sizes, we often faced challenges with quantity mismatches.

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Operations Team, IP Rings

Jidoka’s Approach

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Jidoka implemented a custom AI vision solution that replaced manual inspection and packaging checks:

• AI + Machine Vision: Combined algorithms tailored for 40+ piston ring variants
• User Interface for SKU Selection: Operators could simply select the product variant being loaded
• Same Camera, All Variants: No need to change cameras or machine configurations
• Autonomous Counting: Count validation automated, ensuring 100% accuracy
• Auto Reports: Dashboards and digital reports offered new layers of traceability

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Big Wins For IP Rings

• Zero Reconfiguration: 40+ product variants handled effortlessly
• High Precision: 100% accurate piston ring counts
• Higher Throughput: 3x faster vs manual counting
• Customer Satisfaction: No complaints from OEM customers post-deployment
• No Setup Hassles: Operators can switch between variants effortlessly
• User-Friendly System: Minimal training required; easy adoption by staff
• OEM Recognition: Customers appreciated the enhanced accuracy and consistency

‍What stood out was how seamlessly Jidoka’s solution fit into our workflow. It hardly took any effort for our teams to get trained in using the system. The reports are generated automatically, giving us complete traceability we didn’t have earlier. Since implementation, we’ve not had a single customer complaint about incorrect packaging. In fact, a few OEMs even acknowledged the improved consistency and accuracy in our shipments. For us, that recognition is a clear validation of the system’s impact.

— IP Rings

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Jidoka’s AI vision system completely automated the counting process across all our variants without needing to change any camera settings. The solution handles all 40+ piston ring variants using the same vision system. That flexibility means we can deploy it across product lines without calling maintenance or tweaking machine settings. The system is smart enough to differentiate profiles with just a product selection on the UI. It not only removed a major bottleneck in our dispatch process but also eliminated the risk of shipping errors to OEMs with automated downstream lines.

‍Operations Team, IP Rings