Automated inspection installed at Scholl

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 17, 2000

A Checker vision system was installed by Scholl to automatically inspect every pack of medicated pads manufactured and automatically eject any rejects.

Having a well-known and trusted name in the public eye, means that Scholl Footcare cannot afford to take any chances with its quality control.

When needing to upgrade the inspection on its medicated footpad production line, the company realised that an automatic vision inspection system was the best way of ensuring no sub-standard products were delivered to the customer.

Image Industries' Checker system was installed by Scholl to automatically inspect every pack of medicated pads manufactured and automatically eject any rejects from the production line.

During production, the pads are stamped out of a continuous roll of material that is fed into a press after having the release paper removed from its self-adhesive backing.

As the pads are stamped out of the roll, they are simultaneously pressed on to a backing card which forms part of the packaging.

The backing card is then guillotined to the required size prior to the card and pads being transported by conveyor to where they are inspected by the Checker system, up to 150 per minute being manufactured.

A range of different products is manufactured by the same production line with different quantities and sizes of pads being required to be attached on to different cards.

The Checker not only ensures that the right combination of pads is present but also checks for any contamination such as oil or grease, or stray pieces of adhesive tape used to join the continuous feed-roll.

The system's high-speed camera also checks that no misshaped discs are present in addition to ensuring that the backing card has been cut to the correct length.

After inspection the cards with attached pads are over-wrapped with clear film and any rejects are automatically blown off the production line.

Derby based Scholl, part of the SSL International Group, previously employed an operator for checking and packing the finished product, but realised they would require an additional operator or an automatic inspection system in readiness for a change in the product packaging.

Project Engineer at Scholl, Parjit Lally, explained, "We are going to change the clear wrapping for a foil laminate, and obviously the packer would not be able to see inside to inspect the product.

This meant we would need two operators, one inspecting before the discs are wrapped, with another one doing the packing, so we decided to install an automatic system instead." Speaking about the company's decision to purchase the Image Industries' system, Mr Lally continued, "We looked at systems that were about four times the price that did the same job, and also other cheaper systems, but we liked the robustness of the Checker and we are very pleased how user-friendly it is." Looking to the future, Mr Lally concluded, "We have two production lines now that use Checker, and we are very pleased with the performance; because of this we are about to use a Checker system for our corn plaster production line, which runs at 300 products per minute".

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