Vision inspection is a powerful tool for automation, quality control, and efficiency in manufacturing due to its ability to perform multiple functions, including:
1. Inspection: Automated vision inspection equipment is primarily used to inspect items or components on moving conveyor lines. It functions as an automatic tool to detect defects such as scratches, dents, color variations, and surface imperfections, promoting consistent product quality. It can identify imperfections, measure dimensions, and verify the presence or absence of specific features like labels and protective seals.
2. Object Recognition and Sorting: Machine vision can be used to recognize and classify objects within images or videos and sort products based on specific characteristics such as shape, size, and color. This is particularly useful for tasks such as inventory management.
3. Tracking: Vision technology along with advanced vision inspection software can be used to track products throughout the manufacturing process, starting from early in production stages to shipment and arrival at retail locations. This allows manufacturers to monitor output volumes and provides assurance that products are being processed and handled correctly post-production.
4. Barcode and Text Reading: Barcode inspection systems use vision technology to read barcodes, QR codes, batch numbers, lot codes, and other texts within images to confirm their presence and accuracy. They are a practical tool often used in logistics, inventory tracking, and quality control checks.
5. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Optical Character Verification (OCV): OCR is used to identify the printed characters on a package surface to determine what a code is – in other words, it ‘reads’ or ‘recognizes’ the code. OCV is used to compare printed characters against pre-defined values to check for accuracy – it ‘verifies’ that a code is correct. Both OCR and OCV systems can be used in processing, data entry, and automated reading and validation of labels or documents.
