Can seam inspection station
Measures seam height on every can against the can maker’s spec and flags a run of rejects for seamer maintenance.
Stations
Pick the station for the fault you keep seeing.
Four stations: one camera, three cameras, a barcode tunnel, and a barcode station with a searchable record. Plus three stations built around one job: can seams, labels and fill level. Not sure which fits? Start with a feasibility study.
Station comparison
Best for↓Checks
Single-camera station
Faults that show from one side: fill, seal, presence, count.
Fill level, seals, empty pockets, missing pieces, short cases, surface foreign material, caps, print, flaps, desiccant and cotton.
See station →Three-camera station
Faults that can be on any side: wrapped labels, caps, cosmetic marks.
Missing, crooked, or wrong labels; cocked caps and tamper bands; flash and scratches on parts.
See station →Barcode tunnel
Codes on any face of a case or carton.
Unreadable date and lot codes, bar spread and ink bleed, mixed products, case codes that do not match the run.
See station →Barcode station
A searchable history of every decode for recalls.
1D and 2D codes on the line; reject when the code fails; every decode written to a database.
See station →By job
Which station checks seams, labels or fill level?
Three stations built around one inspection each, with a full article on how each one works.
Label verification station
One smart camera at the labeler exit, triggered by a proximity sensor, checks every label and its code against the live order.
Fill level inspection station
An IR backlight on clear PET and amber bottles finds the fill line on every bottle and rejects bottles outside the tolerance.
Also: Needle tubing inspection
Inside the station
Where the vision processing runs.
Every station pairs a camera with a processor. Where the processing runs shapes the speed, the flexibility, and the upkeep.
PC-based
- What it is
- Cameras cabled to an industrial PC or a vision controller that runs the software.
- Speed
- The most headroom. More cameras and larger images by adding computing power.
- Flexibility
- The widest: any camera interface, many software packages, rules and deep learning together.
- Cost range
- The most engineering. Cost per camera drops as more cameras share one PC.
- Maintenance
- Operating system updates, security patches, drive and fan wear, and license keys. Keep a disk image.
- Food lines
- Several cameras over one tray: fill, seal area, and label in one pass.
- Pharmaceutical lines
- Blister and carton checks with code reading at several points.
- Packaging lines
- Codes and labels on several case faces, and robot pick guidance.
Smart camera
- What it is
- Sensor, processor, software, and I/O in one camera housing.
- Speed
- Strong for one view at typical line rates. Heavy tools or large images slow it.
- Flexibility
- Good within one view and the camera's own tool set.
- Cost range
- The lowest entry cost for one inspection point. Cost grows with each view added.
- Maintenance
- Swap the unit and load the saved setup. Firmware updates.
- Food lines
- Date and lot code present, lid on, label on.
- Pharmaceutical lines
- Lot and expiry print, cap present, a code on one carton face.
- Packaging lines
- Barcode reading, label present, open flaps.
Embedded
- What it is
- A camera board and processor built into another machine by its builder.
- Speed
- Fast at the one task it was designed for.
- Flexibility
- Fixed once the design is frozen.
- Cost range
- High one-time design cost and low cost per unit in volume. Usually inside the machine's cost.
- Maintenance
- Serviced through the machine builder.
- Food lines
- A labeler or printer checking its own work.
- Pharmaceutical lines
- Checks inside a cartoner or labeler.
- Packaging lines
- Print-and-apply labelers that check the label they apply.
Application-specific
- What it is
- A complete system designed around one inspection.
- Speed
- Matched to the rate of the task it was built for.
- Flexibility
- Narrow. Strong at its task, hard to repurpose.
- Cost range
- A higher purchase cost with little application engineering.
- Maintenance
- Recipes and service from the system's maker.
- Food lines
- Optical sorters, seal checks on tray sealers.
- Pharmaceutical lines
- Blister inspection units, vial and ampoule inspection machines, leaflet print checks.
- Packaging lines
- Barcode grading units, inspection of printed film on the web.
FAQ
Questions about inspection stations
QWhich station do we need?
Start with the fault you want to stop. A single camera covers one face, three cameras cover several sides, and the barcode stations read codes on every pack.
QCan a station go on an existing line?
Yes. Stations are built to fit existing conveyors and connect to the line's PLC.
QWhat happens to a bad pack?
The station signals a reject device or stops the line, depending on how it is wired, and saves the image of the fail.
QHow do you measure how well a station works?
We count false rejects and escapes separately, using marked good and bad samples and production results.
Next step
Start with your line.
Tell us what you make and what is getting through. Start with a feasibility study.
Every station is tuned and reported on two numbers kept apart: false rejects, good packs thrown out, and escapes, bad packs let through.
Related: Compare stations · How the system works · Barcode station · Barcodes tool · All industries