Machine Vision Applications Courtesey of Cognex
- Product traceability assured through advanced 2D code reading
- Track and trace of pharmaceutical folding boxes with Cognex vision systems: certain to be original
- Vision System Enables First Automated Learning and Testing Chamber with Real-Time Feedback
- Cognex Vision Ensures Compliance for Pharmaceutical Products
- Cognex expands display options for In-Sight Vision Systems
- Bosma Enterprises - Vision system assists blind workers
- JenOptik - Machine vision optimizes thin-film solar production
- Mondragon found the right solution with In-Sight vision
- Royal Canadian Mint - Checker Vision Sensors Reduce Downtime and Improves Coin Roll Inspection Productivity by 60%
- Unilever - Vision Inspection on Rexona Personal Care Product
- The power in the wind
- Vision-guided robots help automate vial and syringe
- Perfect start on the fast track
- 360° view provides extremely fast surface check
- Vision sensor helps automate high-speed leading of transparent cartons
- Laser Marking and Image-based Industrial ID Reader Save Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
- Automotive Supplier Achieves Perfect Quality with Low-Cost Machine Vision
- Vision System Prevents Injection Moulding Tool Damage and Improves Part Quality
Product traceability assured through advanced 2D code reading
(Courtesey of Cognex)
Within the pharmaceutical industry, stringent legislation exists to combat counterfeit goods by ensuring each product can be traced throughout the supply chain. In order to achieve the required levels of traceability, manufacturers are increasingly reliant on printed 2D codes combined with advanced code reading technology.
As a major international integrator of Item Level Serialization and Tracking Solutions, Advanco works together with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers installing Automatic Identification throughout the complete supply chain to ensure product traceability.
Track and trace of pharmaceutical folding boxes with Cognex vision systems: certain to be original
(Courtesey of Cognex)
According to the EU Commission, the rate of counterfeit drugs has risen by around 400 per cent since 2005. The Customs departments of European countries seize up to 2.4 million counterfeit pharmaceutical packages each year. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, it is assumed that around 10 per cent of all medicines worldwide are counterfeits. In developing countries, that proportion even rises to 30 per cent. It is not only luxury pharmaceuticals such as Viagra that are affected. Even antibiotics, cholesterol drugs, and cancer drugs are on the list of copycat drugs. And the damage is not merely financial. Deicer in cough syrups or cement powder as a filler for pills endanger the health of patients. It is therefore more important than ever in the fight against drug counterfeiters to have a clear identification and traceability of the original products.
Vision System Enables First Automated Learning and Testing Chamber with Real-Time Feedback
(Courtesey of Cognex)
Using human researchers to observe test subject behaviour during research experiments can be time consuming and expensive. The available manpower for real-time observation is limited, and human observations are inherently subjective. To address some of these limitations, the Tufts Centre for Regenerative and Developmental Biology has partnered with Wireless Techniques to develop the first automated learning and testing chamber for analyzing behaviour in small animals. The chamber uses a Cognex In-Sight® Micro vision system instead of a human researcher to observe the behaviour of test subjects.
Cognex Vision Ensures Compliance for Pharmaceutical Products
(Courtesey of Cognex)
Global pharmaceutical company Sanofi-aventis offers a broad pharmaceutical product portfolio including prescription medicines, generics and consumer healthcare.
Responding to new regulations affecting readability of GS1 codes, Sanofi-aventis was also keen to implement a product verification solution to ensure zero operator errors caused by data input, a reduction of waste products and improved product coding quality across a range of products at their factory in Poland.
Cognex expands display options for In-Sight Vision Systems
(Courtesey of Cognex)
Cognex Corporation has announced a new option to deliver its VisionView® operator interface to third-party CE Panels. VisionView CE software can now be licensed and installed directly onto Rockwell and Siemens CE panels, allowing end users to use existing equipment and thereby reducing monitor clutter. In addition to supporting VisionView CE software to run on Rockwell and Siemens CE panels, a new software release, VisionView 1.4, adds the functionality to support filtered images, the ability to view the failed image next to the current image, additional touch screen drivers for the VisionView VGA model and Microsoft® Windows® 7 64-bit support.
Bosma Enterprises- Vision system assists blind workers
Bosma worked with the EMP Technical Group, a systems integrator that specializes in data collection equipment and labelling systems, to develop a system that blind workers could use to accurately recreate the correct labels for each manufacturer’s box.
The system combines a PC that contains a database of manufacturer names, glove type and model number, a Cognex In-Sight® Micro 1403 vision system to read and transmit the date/lot/batch information from the packaging supplied by the manufacturer, and a machine for printing and applying the new labels.
JenOptik - Machine vision optimizes thin-film solar production
Lasers, high-end mechatronics and sophisticated vision technology combine to improve energy generation.
The JENOPTIK-VOTANTM Solas 100/200 was designed for pattern scribing on thin-film solar modules using laser and/or needles for all the process steps (P1, P2 and P3). In the standard machines, six industrial cameras combine with VisionPro® vision software from Cognex to maintain process-tool calibration, determine wear status and check that solar modules are processed correctly. Because set-up, processing and the subsequent quality inspection take just 60 seconds per module, manufacturers can achieve a throughput advantage in the highly competitive sustainable energy market.
Mondragon found the right solution with In-Sight vision
Mondragon Assembly in Spain designs and manufactures systems and equipment for automation and robotic guided assembly processes in the solar sector. They needed a reliable solution for their solar cell manufacturing equipment in order to ensure the quality inspection of solar cell panels while in production. A powerful vision solution was required that could handle high-speed production while performing different inspection tasks all the while ensuring that the delicate product remained intact. In-Sight® vision systems from Cognex are now performing the inspection tasks ensuring zero fault production.
Checker Vision Sensors Reduce Downtime and Improves Coin Roll Inspection Productivity by 60%
With a worldwide reputation for product quality, customer service, and minting technology, the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) is at the forefront of innovation in producing coinage and currency. The Mint uses advanced automation equipment to count and wrap pennies into rolls. However, in the past these rolls were manually inspected for the number of pennies contained and the integrity of each package. Recently, the Mint has improved efficiency by implementing a machine vision system that checks the package to make sure it is intact and verifies that the roll is the correct length. The machine vision system has improved inspection productivity from 25,000 to 40,000 rolls per shift and reduced downtime while eliminating a difficult and troublesome manual task.
Vision Inspection on Rexona Personal Care Product
Managing the Demand
Rexona deodorant is one of the most popular products manufactured by Unilever in its Philippines facility. Due to the increase in production, it became an obvious need for Unilever to automate its manufacturing process.
The Decision Process
Prior to implementing a machine vision system, Unilever was engaging up to 10 operators per line to perform the following quality checks manually:
- Presence and integrity of the cap
- Correct colour and date code printed on the cap
- Labels inspection on both sides of the product
The production lines run at an average of 220 bottles per minute. Despite investing heavily in a well-trained labour force, Unilever faced a high volume of rejects because the labels were either poorly aligned or wrinkled during the application process. Performing manual inspection on these tasks had become increasingly unrealistic. Furthermore, manual inspection did not provide a check of the printed barcodes on the packages.
Gilbert Plumos, Product Line Engineer for Unilever, decided to improve production performance by exploring various machine vision systems. He understood the need to have a vision system in place which would allow operators to be redeployed to other complex and mission critical tasks on the production floor.
Perfect start on the fast track
Just before completing the planning phase for the new cutting centre, Arndt Fenstertechnik realised that the process had issues in the material feed area, one of the first steps. Incorrectly-fed frame parts could damage the line, resulting in costly down-time. Hundreds of different types of profiles, need to be distinctly identified in a matter of seconds.
After intensive research, they selected the In-Sight® Micro 1100 in collaboration with Peter Scholz Software+Engineering GmbH of Weiden, Germany.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/TypesOfApplications/default.aspx?id=78
Vision-guided robots help automate vial and syringe filling
Automated Systems of Tacoma, Inc. (AST) was asked by a life science research company to develop an alternative to conventional pharmaceutical filling machinery having the capability to fill and finish all their small-scale clinical trial products with a single flexible platform. To solve this problem, AST had to develop a machine with the flexibility to be able to handle various sizes of prefilled syringes, vials, cartridges and IV bags with minimal product changeover times. The basic concept is a system that positions ready-to-use “nests” of a particular container within the operating envelopes of two robots, the Cognex In-Sight® Micro vision system is used to precisely locate each container and stopper and provide the robots these locations prior to processing.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/TypesOfApplications/default.aspx?id=78
The power in the wind
Larger and larger wind power turbines are bringing the forces of nature under control. The main structures, the powerful tower and rotors, are supported by parts that play a less obvious, but no less important role: bolts. As simple as it may look, precision tightening of bolts is an art form of its own. Intellifast GmbH is now ensuring perfect support in any weather using ultrasound permanent sensors and Data Matrix codes and reading the codes with the DataMan® 100 from Cognex.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/IndustryApps/default.aspx?id=7782&terms=The+power+in+the+wind
360° view provides extremely fast surface check
In a strained economic situation, it is more important than ever to be able to optimise processes and make them more efficient. The Expert ETK inspection system, integrated with Cognex OmniView® technology, combines many different quality control requirements into just one compact system.
There have been two key challenges to implementing machine vision to aid in the quality control of labels on cylindrical objects. First, vision systems require the bottles be consistently aligned within the labelling machine, and second, labelling machines offer unfavourable ambient conditions and lack appropriate space within to contain the vision system. But now, the innovative OmniView vision technology from Cognex integrated in the Expert ETK inspection system from Syscona Kontrollsysteme and Weber Systemtechnik has a 360° complete view of the bottle surface which provides new potential for the inspection of bottle features with much greater reliability.
Expert ETK creates better inspection conditions
Industrial bottle-labelling facilities are not kind places and inspection technologies have always been required to make individual checks inside labelling machines. Heat, moisture, and label glue place vision systems under severe strain and there is less space available, as production facilities become smaller.
The answer is to take quality control out of the labelling machine. Expert ETK makes this possible. The checks are made outside the labelling machine as the non-aligned bottle travels freely along the line. The result is a complete inspection of all bottle features with maximum identification reliability and maximum flexibility.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/IndustryApps/default.aspx?id=404&langtype=2057
Vision Sensor helps automate high-speed loading of transparent cartons
(Courtest of Cognex Corporation)
A major beverage manufacturer uses transparent cartons to package its bottled drinks so that their distinctive branded labels are visible to consumers. However, the need to orient the bottles so that the right part of the label is visible makes automated packaging a challenge. In the past, bottles were filled on an automated line, and a team of 15 people were tasked with manually loading and orienting the bottles into the transparent cartons. Recently, this beverage producer became the first to successfully automate high-speed carton loading with the use of a bucket autoload cartoner from AFA Nordale Packaging Systems, which uses Cognex Checker® vision sensors to orient the bottles before they are placed in the cartons.
The cartoner orients the bottles by simultaneously spinning 14 bottles while 14 Cognex Checker 3G1 vision sensors view each bottle’s label. The Checker vision sensors then send a signal to stop spinning each individual bottle as soon as they see a letter that indicates the label is in the correct position. A cylinder in the orienter then lifts the bottle off the belt.
During machine validation, the orienter demonstrated the ability to position the labels within +/- 14% of dead centre, well within the +/- 30% requirement of the bottle manufacturer. The success rate in orienting the conveyors is 99.9%.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/TypesOfApplications/default.aspx?id=78
Laser Marking and Image-based Industrial ID Reader Save Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
(courtesy Cognex Corporation)
An electronics manufacturer produces thousands of different part numbers of electronic products intermixed on the same assembly line. The difficulty in identifying parts, combined with the fast pace of the line, resulted in a large amount of rework or scrap. The manufacturer had experienced several hundred thousand dollars a year in losses when incorrect parts were added to, and/or the wrong operations were performed, on assemblies. The manufacturer asked Claire Lasers for a solution. The manufacturer developed an application of the company’s ClearMarkä laser marking system that added a motorized platform to move the Cognex DataMan ID reader into position based on the location of the assembly.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/SemiconductorApps/default.aspx?id=428
Automotive Supplier Achieves Perfect Quality with Low-Cost Machine Vision
Ice Industries’ Deerfield Manufacturing subsidiary designed and built a welder to add a nut to a stamped metal frame rail. If their customer were to receive a frame rail without a nut, Ice Industries would be subject to substantial penalties including 100% containment and inspection of all product until root cause corrective action has been approved by the customer and implemented by Ice—not to mention the blemish on its quality scores. The traditional approach would have been to have an operator inspect each part for the presence of the nut as the parts are packed. Deerfield management decided to take a look at machine vision. “We have often found the costs of machine vision systems to be prohibitive,” Randall said. “Then one of our engineers found the Cognex Checker® vision sensor on the Internet. Besides the low cost, we liked the fact that Checker is so easy to use…”
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/IndustryApps/default.aspx?id=72
Vision System Prevents Injection Moulding Tool Damage and Improves Part Quality
At TNT Plastic Molding, located in Anaheim, California, USA, when an injection moulding operation is completed, pins on the movable side of the mould push the part out of the mould. Occasionally, however, a part sticks in the mould. In the past, the operator was responsible for checking the mold after each cycle to ensure the part was removed. Sometimes, the operator did not notice that the part had not been ejected—and the typical result was $14,000 in damage to the mould.
TNT Plastic Molding has overcome this problem by using a mould monitoring system developed by A.S.K. Technologies, Yorba Linda, California, USA, that inspects the mould before it closes to be sure that the part has been ejected. The mould monitoring system utilizes the Cognex In-Sight® vision system, which was trained in minutes simply by taking images of the mould in the proper condition without a part. The vision system now checks the mould for the presence of the part on every cycle, eliminating the risk of damage to the mould. The mould monitoring system has also improved quality by enabling the press to run in automatic mode, which increases cycle time consistency.
www.cognex.com/ApplicationsIndustries/TypesOfApplications/default.aspx?id=5784&terms=tnt
