Machine Vision Protects Pharmaceutical Packaging
Control Engineering, February 2010

Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing are among the most highly-regulated industries.

B. Braun Penang (Malaysia) turned to PPT VISION, developers and installers of machine vision systems for medical quality assurance and product tracking. PPT VISION’s IMPACT vision system running the IMPACT Software Suite helps B. Braun boost productivity, manage risk, and improve quality across multiple medical device and pharmaceutical production lines, including syringe needles, product labels, pharmaceutical vials, and Ecoflac intravenous (IV) infusion bottles. Read the article.

Video: Robots and Vision
Vision Systems Design, December 2009

Bradley Weber, director of applications engineering at PPT VISION, shows a demo of three different smart cameras inspecting different features on a perpetually moving model at a recent International Robots and Vision show. Watch the video.

Visual Aids: Efficiency You Can See
Food Manufacturing, October 2009

Many manufacturers already benefit from the use of machine vision in food production and packaging. The technology is found in a variety of applications in the food industry ranging from quality control to robotic guidance. With advances in the capabliity of general-purpose components and reductions in cost, machine vision is more accessible than ever.

David Dechow of Aptúra Machine Vision Solutions explains how the expansion in the availability, variety, and capability of machine vision components has made them more accessible and sophisticated to suit a broad variety of applications.
Read the article (Go to page 30).

Assemble the right combination of tools to construct an effective vision system
Plant Engineering, November 2009

Seeing the advantages machine vision provides in automation environments isn’t difficult. Inspecting products on the line saves the costs and consequences of recalled items, and properly labeling items before shipping ensures customers receive the correct product – a critical concern in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.

The right combination of smart cameras, lighting and software with sophisticated vision tools results in a comprehensive inspection solution that can solve many common applications with ease. Here are a few examples of how manufacturers can utilize vision practically, effectively and cost-efficiently. Read the article.

Vision communications and control tools improve connections to operator interfaces, PLCs, and automation equipment.
Motion System Design, September 2009

Communication is key in relationships — and that includes those between the operator of an inspection system, its process controls, and the vision equipment used to inspect that process. New vision-software advancements are improving the integration through intuitive control interfaces and more efficient closed-loop information exchanges.

PPT VISION's Bradley Weber delves into current connectivity protocols. Learn how smart cameras are communicating with PLCs, automation equipment, and operator interfaces for better process control. Read the article.

Three Smart Camera Systems and Image-Processing Software Inspect Thermal Switches on Tape Reels
Vision Systems Design, September 2009

Aptúra Machine Vision Solutions designed an inspection system to inspect thermistor tape reels using three PPT VISION, Inc. IMPACT smart cameras networked to a PC running a custom user interface (UI) with data archiving. The system inspects more than a dozen physical criteria at a rate of three thermistors per second.
“Many vision suppliers have good tools,” explains David Dechow, president of Aptúra, “but they won’t always expose all the parameters to the integrator. IMPACT has software constructs like data manipulation, looping, branching, and interrupt-driven tasks. It also comes with an object-based HMI that lets you customize it for the customer, rather than just add some forms and buttons based to a manufacturer’s canned HMI. The system can be seen as a little more complex, but you get extra programming capabilities.” Read the article.

PPT VISION Adds to the Company's Popular Series of IMPACT Smart Cameras
Advanced Imaging Pro, September 2009

PPT VISION's newest addition to our popular series of IMPACT smart cameras, the Right-Angle T-Series intelligent camera. This camera is paired with our full IMPACT software suite, which solves challenging industrial vision applications such as product or feature inspection, location, and identification. IMPACT smart cameras employ closely integrated vision software and hardware to deliver a sophisticated solution for vial inspection, label inspection, optical character recognition (OCR) and many other machine vision applications. Read the article.

Camera, Software Suite Inspects Physical Properties and Label Codes
PMP News, June 2009

PPT VISION ’s IMPACT system is being used by B. Braun (Bethlehem, PA) for medical device packaging at its facility in Penang, Malaysia. The collaboration will allow B. Braun to have a full track-and-trace line for medical device packaging capabilities, and the combination enables one system to both inspect physical properties and read codes and labels. Read the article.

Smart Cameras Get Smarter
Vision and Sensors, June 2009

Traditionally, smart cameras have used preset, easy-to-configure onboard tools that were specialized in a few functions. PC vision was used to solve the more complex applications. This involved taking cameras from one vendor, interfacing hardware from other vendors and writing custom code. Today, that is changing—and these changes are distinguishing smart cameras from “smarter cameras” in an array of machine vision applications. Read the article.

Custom lighting and smart camera enable inspection of reagent glass tubes for portable blood testing system
Vision Systems Design, February 2009

Portable hematology machines offer doctors in offices as well as remote locations in developing nations a chance to quickly scan for some of the world’s most fearsome diseases such as malaria. These hematology systems include optical testing and centrifuge systems to scan disposable glass tubes holding special reagents that react with tainted blood samples. The systems are essentially plug and play, requiring no special technical knowledge, which makes them uniquely attractive for both the family doctor’s office as well as frontier clinics. Recently, a maker of portable hematology scanning systems contracted Aptúra Machine Vision Solutions to retrofit existing reagent-tube manufacturing equipment to inspect for the presence and location of lightly contrasting liquid reagent sprayed on the inside of 3-in. glass tubes. Read the article.

Integrated machine-vision system inspects automotive electronic connectors
Vision Systems Design, May 2008

Automotive anti-lock brake systems (ABSs) and protective airbags are two examples of systems that must not fail. Buried inside the ABS and airbag systems are wire terminations and connections. Fast-con, crimp, or lug wire terminators come in a nearly endless variety of shapes and sizes and are used extensively in the automotive and other electronics markets. As more intelligence is designed into automobiles, the number of fast-con connectors continues to increase—as can the ramifications of a defective termination. In the past, manufacturers inspected fast-con connectors off-line by pulling samples from final reels. These reels could contain anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 parts each. Read the article.

Off-line system measures screw parameters precisely
Vision Systems Design, August 2007

In many companies, 100% inspection of products may not be economically feasible because of the low cost and high volume of the products produced and the expense of developing high-speed inspection systems. Instead, in many companies that manufacture large quantities of products such as threaded fasteners, batch inspection is used as an alternative to determine whether these products conform to specific criteria. Read the article.

Vision system tracks magazine production
Vision Systems Design, March 2007

The modern magazine-printing business is far more complex than simply printing paper and binding it together. In addition to special inserts, belly bands, polybagged extras, and other value-added services, printers must handle renewal requests for each magazine. These requests are typically put into an envelope and glued to the front of the magazine, although the position and orientation are far from exact. Read the article.

High-speed system inspects fasteners
Vision Systems Design Online, July 2006

Given the rapid growth of the manufacturing and assembly industries in China, quality control of fasteners during the production process is essential. To meet this need, Shanghai Kingtek (Shanghai, China; www.kingtek.net) has developed the KT-200 fastener-inspection and automatic sorting system that images each fastener from four positions and removes defective fasteners as they pass through the station. The fasteners travel from a centrifugal feeder bowl onto a conveyor line that sorts and positions them before moving them past four IMPACT cameras from PPT VISION. Read the article.