How Can a Vision Inspection System Exceed Your Expectations?

In the world of automation, perfection is paramount, and you shouldn’t settle for anything less than the best. With this in mind, how can an automated system exceed your expectations?

Accuracy. Efficiency. Speed. Reliability. Return on Investment. Five things that you look for when investing in a product that must solve your problem, first time, every time. This is true on a personal level where you will seek out ultimate levels of efficiency and maximum return on investment when buying your next phone or car. In a professional capacity, you fully expect that products and investments meet the same exacting standards and rightfully so. You will know that in the automation world, product perfection is paramount, and you shouldn’t settle for anything less than a vision inspection system that exceeds your expectations.

But why should you invest in machine vision, rather than additional quality control personnel to complete your necessary and often stringent checking processes?

Firstly, your personnel are limited to the capabilities of the human eye. Secondly, they can only check one thing at a time where there are several aspects of a product that need to be checked. Thirdly, where repetitive tasks exist, mistakes can happen, giving rise to the potential of production and supply chain delays or product quality issues.

You may wish to consider the alternative and invest in vision inspection technologies, which have the overall potential of significantly streamlining your quality inspection processes. Capable of simultaneous fault detection, an expertly honed vision inspection system can detect any combination of fault factors such as discolouration, malformation, microscopic holes, or the presence of foreign particles, all within a blink of an eye.

PCE constantly strive to meet and exceed customer expectations and can demonstrate answers to your questions on accuracy, efficiency, speed, reliability and return on investment.

Working closely with our Alliance Partners at Fisher Smith Machine Vision Inspection, you will benefit from the full power of vision inspection, within virtually any of the PCE GROUP product range; ensuring your consumer receives your product in impeccable condition.

All too often, when manufacturers consider implementing vision inspection, they can be initially overlooked and considered an afterthought, so the required electro-mechanical infrastructure is not always in place to accommodate the retrospective application of a vision system. PCE and Fisher Smith collaborate from the very beginning of a project (during the sales process) to ensure that automation and vision inspection are seamlessly combined for you.

The repeatability and accuracy of a vision system is always best achieved by considering the mechanical flow of the items requiring inspection, as well as the mechanical handling from the perspective of the vision inspection requirement. Similarly, within the design stage of a project, particular thought must be given to placement and projection of the machine vision cameras as well as illumination, so to gain ultimate levels of accuracy.

Bob Fisher, Managing Director at Fisher Smith, explains, “The relationship between PCE and Fisher Smith is key to our business. Technical relationships established between the businesses, established over several years, combined with cast-iron procedures on both sides, ensures nothing gets overlooked, and all customer requirements are considered. No stone is left unturned.”

Within the last twelve months, PCE and Fisher Smith have collaborated on a number of high-profile automation projects, combining vision inspection with automation excellence. Examples of our intricate collaborations include;

Project 5140

A black & white inspection system was used by the PCE GROUP, to assist in delivering high quality, consistently assembled product for a well-known household brand. The product’s two components were assembled using a hot melt glue system, with a downstream inspection process to determine the correct glue application.

An image of the glued component was compared against a reference template image, ensuring a consistent quantity of glue was applied to the correct designated path before an additional component was added to the pre-glued component. Items that did not reach the required standard were rejected from the system, thus preventing their entry into the supply chain.

Project 5160

Fisher Smith designed a vision inspection system for a world-leading Aerospace client requiring very specific motion control. This particular system functioned as one in a series of inspection steps deployed by the client. The vision inspection system was built into a gantry by PCE, which followed along the critical join line between the bonded surfaces of a highly stressed component, at a consistent height. The whole machine was designed and manufactured at the PCE GROUP’s Suffolk HQ.

Project 5196

Many vision inspection systems are utilised to carry out a single check; however, within a project for a leading global tool brand, an inspection system was deployed to carry out multiple verification tasks. These checks involved ensuring that three separate components were all present and that the adjustable components were assembled to the correct specification. In addition, the camera system also detected that the components were of the correct colour for the product specification.

Each of these projects demonstrates the intricate nature of customer requirements and how PCE and Fisher Smith can come together to achieve the perfection you require.

Your project. Our expertise. Problems solved.

To talk to PCE about how your production process can become more efficient, contact us via info@pce-automation.co.uk.

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