FEATURED ARTICLE

Lights, Camera, Packaging Productivity

Vision providers see a growing market in packaging line inspection, and they are going after it with 21st century products that are smart, tough and easier to deploy.

Those who were involved in manufacturing in the 1980s will no doubt remember the enthusiasm for vision systems, particularly in the automotive sector. For a few short years, this relatively new technology, called machine vision back then, was all the rage; hopes were high for vision-based inspection systems, and so were the price tags. When too many of the systems, however, proved to be difficult to operate and maintain, customer enthusiasm for the technology waned. Jeff Schmitz, corporate business manager, vision products, for Banner Engineering Corp., Minneapolis, sums it up this way, “In the late ’80s, vision technology was over-promised and underdeveloped.”

Fortunately for vision providers and their customers, things have changed. “Just about every aspect of the underlying technology has vastly improved over the years,” says Nello Zeuch, a vision consultant and president of Vision Systems International, Yardley, Pa. “Starting with cameras. We now have cost-effective solid-state cameras. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, solid-state cameras were so expensive, they were rarely used. Instead, people used vacuum tube cameras, which had difficulties in the industrial environment. The new cameras provide higher resolution so you can have more sensitivity in what you can detect.”

Zuech adds that the greater connectivity capabilities of digital cameras can readily turn a personal computer (PC) into a machine vision system. If needed, intelligent frame grabbers can plug into the PC to ensure that it can handle most, if not all, of the image processing tasks that it is called upon to do... Read more

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