OTE Group based in the Netherlands, produce and export special hydrating, cleaning and lubricating fluids for the lens care market. As well as their own three product lines they deliver more than 100 private labels to customers with their own brands. Delivering the finished products all over the world, they need to be sure that all bottles reach their destinations in perfect condition and in good time.
In addition, OTE face the strict requirements of the medical and pharmaceutical industry. Previously, quality control was assured manually by the naked eye. But when faced with the challenge of boosting their quality the company decided to use the Cognex Checker to ensure that the production code is present and also to check if the label is on the bottle. Using Checker ensures that quality control is improved meaning better traceability and faster more reliable production. OTE Group maintains high quality standards conforming to ISO standards for filling and manufacturing and so they cannot afford to take chances.
Checker – reliable part detection even on high speed production lines
Cognex vision sensors are the simple and affordable solution for verifying the presence of product and packaging features. Essentially a versatile “multi-sensor”, a single Checker detects features that would require multiple photoelectric sensors, or may not be within the capability of photo-electrics.
Netherlands based Cognex partner, Digitron, provided OTE with the vision sensor solution necessary to solve their application. Three Checkers were installed on their packaging line. Here the Checkers perform the tasks of checking for the presence of a code printed on the bottom of each bottle and simultaneously check for the presence of the label.
In the first application Checker is used to detect the presence of a code. Checker checks for the print on the bottom of the bottle. If a code is missing the line is stopped.
250 labels and many different customers
OTE have over 250 different labels for many different customers so they need to be sure that the right labels are present on each bottle. For this second application Checker is used to detect the presence of the label. For round bottles one Checker is used to detect the presence of the label. For bottles of other dimensions, two Checkers are used. Labels are “taught” at the input and then an external trigger uses the reflection of light to detect its presence.
Checker has given OTE peace of mind with a 100% reliable inspection of each bottle – both their codes and labels. Before this they relied on random sampling but this is not enough to satisfy the strict requirements of their customers from the medical and pharmaceutical industry.
