Open vision platform expands into new areas

Since establishing a presence in the United Kingdom almost two years ago, Scorpion Vision has made great headway into a number of vertical markets within the territory.

Since establishing a presence in the United Kingdom almost two years ago, Scorpion Vision has made great headway into a number of vertical markets within the territory.

During research, there was a clear emphasis on three main points which had an impact on influencing the move towards Scorpion Vision.

The open platform, free working evaluation and non coding requirements have been catalysts for the rapid uptake of the technology by traditionally cautious companies concerned about making the leap onto the steep learning curve that is an obstacle to the adoption of new technology.

The diverse market sectors in which Scorpion Vision is being used is proof of both the flexibility on a technical level and the business benefit on a commercial level.

The modular aspect of building a low cost Scorpion Vision industrial inspection solution has meant that even small engineering companies have benefited from a relatively modest investment that offers a rapid return.

The traditional markets for machine vision such as automotive and pharmaceutical continue to be important, but food and beverage, waste recycling and health and safety have all shown promise over the last 12 months.

The influence of younger process and manufacturing engineers who graduate with an awareness of modern industrial vision has also proven to be a catalyst in the drive towards more automated production and this is putting more champions for the cause into industry.

The variety of applications extend from traceability by identifying and reading batch codes on high speed production lines through to highly sophisticated manufacturing environments where the system is being used to check the quality of circuit board components prior to installation within electronics equipment.

Several automotive suppliers are also benefiting from this aspect of the technology from seat manufacturing to windscreen production - all inspection images and visualisations are archived and retrievable and this is an invaluable tool where the supplier is looking for 100% production success.

As already stated, DISL has seen significant interest from industries that have not previously put any value in automated inspection.

Food and beverage in particular shows great promise as the need to satisfy the high demands of the supermarkets can be labour intensive and this is particularly the case in the production of vegetables where a consistent shape and colour is required.

In food production, Scorpion Vision has been deployed to read print at high speed, identify non food objects in food production, monitor colour, inspect eggshells and check empty cartons.

Similar tasks using the same toolsets have all been done before in engineering and have transferred effortlessly into food and beverage production.

Robot Vision is another area of growth for Scorpion Vision.

Many automated inspections or processes require rapid movement in pick and place for example, where the identification or location of a product increases the capability of the robot.

Robots have been used for many years of course but only now are we seeing the evolution of vision in robotics to an extent that it is becoming the norm as opposed to the exception.

However, the real winner for Scorpion Vision in 2005 has been in automotive.

The recent press highlighting the problems certain sectors of this industry have experienced doesn't at all reflect the vast size of the automotive business in the UK.

The myriad suppliers to the industry are all subject to certain quality processes, often dictated by the 1st and 2nd tier manufacturer.

There is a move to standardisation in the name of lean manufacturing and some organisations have standardised their vision inspection systems using the latest FireWire software based solutions.

The lead for Scorpion Vision has come from Scandinavia and the knock on effect is now being seen in the UK.

DISL expect 2006 to be a major period of expansion for the business.

Back to top