360 Vision Inspection System for High-Speed Canister Production

EPIC Systems engineered a 360-degree vision inspection system for a CPG company to verify the presence and uniformity of sealant beads inside small metal canisters produced at up to 1,200 parts per minute. The solution achieved 0% false positives, minimized false failures, and delivered high-speed, fully automated inspection that improved quality, yield, and efficiency.

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Project

Overview

Industry: Consumer Goods
Customer: Fortune 500
Location: USA
Customer Use Case: Damages & Defects

Customer’s

Challenge

A global consumer goods manufacturer needed a reliable method to verify the presence and uniformity of an interior sealant bead within small metal canisters used in their production process. The existing manual inspection method was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to error—particularly at production speeds approaching 900 parts per minute (PPM).

The client required a fully automated vision inspection system capable of inspecting canisters at 360 degrees, ensuring 0% false positives and minimizing false failures, even at elevated line speeds of up to 1,200 PPM.

One of the greatest engineering challenges was eliminating glare created by direct and stray light reflections inside the narrow cylindrical canisters. Because the reflective interior amplified glare, it was difficult for cameras to clearly capture images of the sealant bead. Space constraints limited how lighting and cameras could be positioned—making standard glare reduction techniques ineffective.

Epic

Solution

EPIC Systems engineered a custom 360-degree vision inspection system that combined three In-Sight vision systems and a fiber-optic light source to ensure comprehensive, high-speed inspection of every canister.

Each vision camera was positioned to capture a 120-degree segment of the canister’s interior, creating a full 360-degree inspection field. The system detects the presence, position, and width of the sealant bead around the entire circumference of each 10mm-diameter canister.

To overcome the glare challenge, EPIC developed a specialized polarizing light setup. Instead of relying on standard linear polarizers—which were ineffective due to the cylindrical geometry—the team designed a three-piece pie-shaped polarizing filter assembly. Each polarizer segment was precisely angled to reduce reflected light from low-incident angles for its corresponding camera.

By cross-polarizing the filters with those mounted on the camera lenses, EPIC optimized the polarization of a single shared light source across all three cameras. This innovation effectively neutralized glare without sacrificing inspection accuracy or line speed.

Project

Impact

Zero false positives: Delivered absolute inspection accuracy, eliminating unnecessary rejects and ensuring only true defects are flagged.

Higher production yield: Minimized false failures to keep more parts in circulation and reduce material waste.

Full 360° coverage at 1,200 PPM: Enabled complete sealant verification at high speed without slowing production.

Improved quality assurance: Provided consistent, data-backed inspection results for every canister.

Lower operational costs: Reduced manual inspection labor and rework through reliable, automated performance.

99.7% inspection accuracy: EPIC’s system kept false failures to fewer than 300 parts per million (0.03%), dramatically improving quality consistency.

Learn more about damage and defect inspection capabilities here.

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EPIC Systems is a multidisciplinary engineering integrator specialized in industrial automation for process manufacturers. We deliver solutions in the following areas: