Achieving High-Speed OCR Vision Inspection for an International F&B Company

EPIC Systems designed and implemented an automated, scalable, reliable vision inspection solution that met the high-speed, high-accuracy customer requirements, ensuring the customer could maintain compliance, reduce waste, and improve overall production efficiency. 

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Hygienic Process System Design

Project

Overview

  • Industry: Food & Beverage
  • Company Size: Fortune 500
  • Location: International
  • Customer Use Case: High-Speed, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 

Customer’s

Challenge

An international Food & Beverage company needed a vision inspection system capable of achieving a 0.03% false failure rate on a production line running at 1,000 cans per minute. The company also required a solution that was easy to install and maintain while ensuring accurate and reliable verification of printed date codes.  

 

Standard text verification systems struggled with variations in print quality, leading to excessive false failures or missed defects. Manual inspection or sample-based quality control methods were insufficient for meeting world-class detectability standards. 

Epic

Solution

EPIC Systems designed and implemented an advanced on-line vision inspection system tailored to the company’s needs. The solution incorporated: 

 

  • Customized PC Software featuring Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology for inspecting and verifying date code accuracy, legibility, and quality. 
  • Matrox SureDotOCR Technology to handle run-to-run print variations, allowing for high read rates even on distorted or wavy codes. 
  • PLC Logic and an Encoder to precisely track can positions and ensure accurate rejection of defective products. 
  • High-Speed Pneumatic Rejecter for quick and precise removal of cans that failed inspection. 
  • HMI Interface for intuitive product selection, real-time defect monitoring, and image display to streamline system operation and maintenance. 
  • Parallel Processing with Eight CPU Cores to maintain performance and efficiency at inspection speeds exceeding 1,000 cans per minute. 

 

EPIC deployed a total of 15 top-tier label inspection and date-code verification systems across multiple production facilities worldwide. The system provided a robust, automated solution for reading and verifying hard-to-read product date codes printed on can tops, eliminating the inconsistencies of manual inspection methods. 

Project

Impact

  • Drastic Improvement in Print Quality Control: The vision system significantly enhanced the accuracy of date-code verification compared to manual inspection or sample-based plans. 
  • Superior Detectability: The solution achieved the required 0.03% false failure rate while maintaining high read rates and low rejection errors. 
  • Seamless Integration & Ease of Maintenance: The intuitive HMI and system design enabled rapid installation and simplified ongoing maintenance. 
  • Global Deployment: The solution was successfully implemented in 15 production lines worldwide, ensuring consistent, high-quality date-code verification across all locations. 

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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:

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