Check and reject products out of specification

What matters is the chain: each step uses the result of the step before it.

1. Check: Vision measures each product on the belt, before it reaches the depositing head.
2. Decide: The system compares each product with the limits the operator has set and marks it OK or NOK, in real time.
3. Signal: The system passes that status on to the next step in your line. Your reject system then knows exactly which product to take out, for example with a pullnose conveyor, a pusher or a robot.

As a result, a product marked NOK gets no material: the nozzles above it stay closed. That saves material, and a product without a deposit is easy to spot, so an operator can also take it out by hand based on an objective criterion. A broken biscuit, for example, is found, marked NOK, gets no deposit and is rejected.

The operator sets the limits for each product. For example:

• Presence: is there a product at this position?
• Position: does the product sit within the tolerance?
• Size: is it too large or too small?
• Shape: is it out of round or deformed?
• Damage: is it broken?
• Colour: does it have the right colour?

These are examples, not a complete list.

• You find products out of specification against objective criteria: The decision is the same for each product, based on the limits you set, not on what an operator happens to notice.
• Your reject system knows what to remove: The signal tells it which product, at the moment it passes.
• You keep your material: Sauce, jam or chocolate does not go onto a product that is rejected anyway, and where your process allows it, the product can often be reused.
• Fewer problems further down the line: A product out of specification that carries material can cause trouble later, for example in the oven or at packaging.

A trigger sensor, such as a photo eye, tells the depositor that a product is there and when to deposit. That is enough to give a gap in the line no deposit. It cannot tell whether the product is in specification, and on a real line no two products sit or look exactly the same. Vision adds the check and the decision, and the system signals the result to your reject system, so it knows which product to take out.

No product, no deposit

• Pizza bases: A base that is too large, too small or out of round is marked out of specification and gets no sauce. Sauce on pizzas
• Jaffa cakes: A base that is out of specification gets no jam. Pectin jam for Jaffa cakes
• Biscuits: A broken biscuit is marked NOK and gets no jelly or chocolate. Jellies on biscuits
• Bread rolls: With vision, a roll that is out of specification gets no tiger paste. Tiger paste on bread

Send us products that are in specification and products that are not. We will show you which ones the system marks out of specification.