CMB has a vision for inspection

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 17, 2000

The Checker vision inspection system from Image Industries is increasingly employed by CMB in Poole to ensure that no defective parts are delivered to the customer

As suppliers to the food industry, The CarnaudMetalbox Company cannot afford to take any chances with its quality control.

CMB manufactures closures for vacuum packed products such as jams, pastes, sauces and baby foods at its production plant in Poole, Dorset .

A daily output of more than 5 million metal caps to supply 70% of the UK market, as well as Europe, makes manual inspection of every cap an impossible task.

To fully automate the inspection process, the Checker vision inspection system from Image Industries is increasingly employed by the company to ensure that no defective parts are delivered to the customer.

During production, a blank or press shell is formed as a first operation.

The Checker looks for any wrinkles in the pressing, the fast shutter speed of the Checker camera ensures a blur-free image of every cap produced at the rate of 1000 per minute, automatically ejecting any sub-standard blanks from the production line before adding value to defect parts.

The next operation in production involves any sharp edges being removed and lugs formed in the closure.

A compound is then applied to the inside of the cap.

A second Checker camera looks for the presence of the sealing compound before a curing operation where the caps are passed through an oven.

A final automatic inspection is carried out by a third camera where the inside of the cap is examined for scratches, contamination, sealing compound defects or any other internal damage.

CarnaudMetalbox had been using vision inspection equipment for some time before installing the Checker systems, but the old equipment did not meet CMB's current requirements and would not be cost effective to upgrade.

Paul Marsh, Process Control Manager at CMB, explains, "Previously, we have used end of line inspection with vision inspection equipment from a competitor of Image Industries.

When we needed to upgrade to in-line inspection the costs were very restrictive.

The supplier was not UK based which made technical support and spares availability unattractive.

The Checker is small, compact and very stable, and does the same job and represents a substantial saving.

It was very refreshing to have a company that listened to what you were saying and came back readily with ideas and ways of overcoming problems, as well as making improvements to the product".

The Checker system is used throughout a diverse range of industries, being capable of inspecting up to 50 parts per second.

In particular the food industry is realising the benefits of the system and is now using it in significant numbers.

When asked about future applications, Mr.Marsh concluded "We have seven production lines with Checkers on at the moment, and we intend to replace all our old systems with Checkers as soon as possible".

* EDITOR'S NOTE: Image Industries, which supplied this article, was acquired by Cognex (see separate entry) in Summer 2000.