PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2021

28 TRADE SHOW REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 04/21 www.petpla.net Instead of Bottle inspection system including calibrated measurements During recent years, IMD engineers were designing new lighting techniques, algorithms and hardware to improve their bottle inspection system IMDvista Boco Scan. Market research was performed to understand the requirements of potential customers; hundreds of types of bottles were collected and thousands of hours of R&D were logged studying these bottles. The first major challenge was the ability to inspect multiple different types of bottles using the same system; transparent, natural, opaque, shiny, flat smooth and structured. Each of these types of bottles require different light- ing and camera techniques to achieve optimal inspection results. For example, a customer may run a clear PET bottle and a white shiny PET bottle on the same line. Traditionally this would require two completely different designs of hardware configurations; backlighting for clear and front lighting for opaque as well as different camera angles due to the clear bottles. The shiny white bottles would cause multiple lighting reflections causing a limited side inspec- tion for contamination, scratches or burn marks. The Boco Scan has the capability of inspecting all of these bottles within a compact single module. Using four special high-resolution cameras (12.5 megapix- els) and proprietary lighting configuration even the most complex bottle designs are now capable of inspection. Additionally, usingArtificial Intelligence (AI) the system can learn and easily distin- guish a good bottle from a defective bottle. Most bottles have some natural defects to them especially extruded bottles. These defects do not affect the integrity or performance of the bottle. Recognising the difference between natural process driven bottle marks and actual defects is alleviated with the use of A.I., as the Boco Scan gets smarter over time. This is especially useful with bottle with strong structural features. The second major challenge was the ability to perform accurate measurements on the finish. IMD took on the challenge to introduce lab quality measurements in an automated online inspection system. By implementing telecentric camera, telecentric lighting and new algorithms, the result are a fully calibrated measure- ment system capable of measuring to an accuracy of +/- 5 μ m (T/E) on 100% of the bottles. Through the IMDvista Portal Software, these measurements can be saved and exported directly to quality management systems. To guarantee sucurity, the system includes a state-of-the-art vein scanner. This hardware features uses an infrared sensor to “scan” the blood veins in the operators hand as this method is more secure than traditional methods of fingerprints or RFID tags. Complete inspection solution To round out the system additional inspections are available:  Thin wall inspection and material flow 360°  IR control for monitoring of heat profile - prevention of deformation after cool- ing of the bottle  Base control - panel inspection  Parting line (also in the handle area)  Neck inside inspection (choked necks)  Thread inspection www.imdvista.ch Retal introduces US sales team Retal would have introduced its new sales team of the US plant in Donora, PA at NPE. Retal’s US plant reports increased productivity across their operation. CEO and president Darius Janulionus, who took over the running of the fast-growing plant from his role as production director for Retal Lithu- ania, says, “Of course we all know that 2020 was full of challenges, and 2021 is still not plain sailing, but thanks to the strength and hard work of our team, we can happily say that we have achieved better than hoped for results. We have seen increased productivity across our operation, which is largely due to the team working together, utilising opportu- nities to share our expertise and listen- ing closely to our customers’ changing needs. Staying agile has been crucial.” The sales team is led by chemical engineer Bob Phillips, a well-known face in the US plastic packaging industry, alongside sales coordinator Brittany Brooks and latest recruit Vlad Nyem- stov. Biochemist Brittany worked in the RPA quality laboratory prior to joining the sales team and brings knowledge about preform production. The latest addition to the RPA sales team is Vlad Nyemstov, an Ukraine native who has lived in the US for five years. The Pro- gramming Engineer joined Retal in the middle of February. www.retalgroup.com Bob Phillips, Brittany Brooks and Vlad Nyemstov are the new sales team at Retal PA