Vision sensors solve ice cream packaging challenge

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 7, 2006

How do you guarantee the correct packaging is being used for the ice cream being produced?.

A recent decision to remove the barcode from the lid of the container introduced a challenging food safety concern: how to guarantee the correct packaging is being used for the ice cream currently in production?.

A packaging mix-up, if undetected, could lead to a costly product recall.

This, combined with food allergy risks, makes for a potentially serious food safety situation.

Vision systems were the only solution.

Cognex partner, ControlVision, supplied a solution to both the Auckland and Christchuch production sites based on Cognex In-Sight vision sensors with PatMax pattern matching.

TipTop is New Zealand's leading ice cream company and produces around 50 million litres of ice cream per year out of facilities in Auckland and Christchurch.

For its popular 2L ice cream tubs TipTop use state of the art packaging design, with colourful graphics - all designed to make the product look as good as it tastes.

The solution provided needed to be flexible and scalable in order to allow for future changes of graphics, colours and products.

In addition, environmental conditions were prone to change in lighting and temperature.

An advantage of the Cognex In-Sight vision sensors and lighting is the fact that they are designed to cope with a harsh caustic wash down environment.

Finally, it was necessary that personnel with limited vision experience could be trained to work independently with the programme and have the possibility to make simple changes without compromising the reliability and success of the system.

The nature of the application was perfect for the robust pattern matching features of Cognex In-Sight and PatMax.

Pattern matching on unique features in artwork provides a fail-safe method of verifying the correct packaging for the appropriate product.

PatMax is tolerant of variations in product presentation angles, and can even cope with perspective distortion.

The capacity of PatMax to acquire a sufficient amount of detailed information ensures not only zero defects but also a negligible rate of false rejects.

The top and side of the container are searched for a taught unique feature - the product name graphic.

Using PatMax, the programme memorises and recognises an area of text and certain aspects of the label as well as its positioning on the lid.

If a positive match cannot be found, then the container is automatically rejected at a down stream reject station.

The capacity of PatMax to acquire a sufficient amount of detailed information ensures not only zero defects but also a negligible rate of false rejects.

There is no need for any complex parameter configuration which ensures ease of use and long term flexibility.

New products are quickly set up with a wizard that takes maintenance staff through the steps required to teach a new pattern template.

Operators select the product at the beginning of a production run using a simple software interface provided by ControlVision's Recipe Manager software.

The simplicity and reliability of the solution permits Tip Top to maintain a high level of production without compromising quality.