Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection’s V15 Round Line, compact standalone vision inspection system is now available globally with improved software integration to comply with safety and labelling regulations, such as the EU Labelling Directive (2000/13/EC).
The Labelling Directive requires manufacturers to declare all ingredients present in pre-packaged foods sold in the EU with very few exceptions. To help ensure compliance, the V15 Round Line vision inspection system features a unique six-camera configuration with liquid lens technology for automated camera adjustment to verify labels across a large range of round packaged products.
First showcased in the US at Pack Expo 2019, the V15 Round Line system has been re-designed to utilise the standard Mettler-Toledo C-Series Checkweigher frame with three easy-install options: Single frame, standalone frame and integrated. Users access the vision inspection modules using the C-Series Checkweigher software platform to provide a familiar interface to programme product data and graphical ID checks. Connectivity to Mettler-Toledo proprietary data management software ProdX securely records all inspection activities for advanced statistical tracking and production efficiencies. This enables compliance and, in the event of a product recall, helps to prove due diligence
The V15 Round Line’s unique configuration optimises round product inspection for food, beverage, and cosmetic packaged products. The smart cameras readjust the focus at the touch of a button when a new job is set-up, to give a 360o picture of the product, thereby facilitating fast and easy product set-ups and changeovers. Other round product systems typically use fewer cameras requiring the stitching of images which may not provide a complete picture. Plus, for these other systems the camera setup may have to be manually adjusted during job changeover, giving rise to the possibility of errors. By comparison, the V15 Round Line’s automatic process of adjustment is both faster and less prone to mistakes. Manufacturers benefit from increased production uptime and better brand integrity whilst reducing product wastage and mitigating the risk of product recalls.
“In addition to eliminating the chance of human error through manual adjustment, the automatic adjustment of the six liquid lens smart cameras in the V15 Round Line has been shown to reduce a five-minute product set-up time down to just one minute,” says Klaus Malscheski, Vision Market Manager for Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection. “In busy production environments, where manufacturers are dealing with more and more frequent product changeovers, these gains soon add up to significant productivity benefits.
“The V15 Round Line provides manufacturers with a simple solution to a complex problem: how to ensure they can accurately inspect the labels and coding on their round products thereby helping to comply with labelling legislative requirements, eliminate retailer fines and reduce product recalls caused by inaccurate labels.”
Other features of the V15 Round Line include:
- Efficient and compact design: 360o “complete picture” vision of round product labels, preventing label mix-up, all within a compact footprint.
- Separate or single frame configurations allow the option of a near-line or inline HMI.
- Optional top and bottom cameras can perform additional inspections on lids or container bottoms to inspect product and production data.
- V15 Round Line software utilises the C Series checkweigher interface, giving customers a familiar simple and intuitive experience, plus fast access to real-time inspection results.
- Inspection capabilities include 1D and 2D code reading, alpha-numeric text, OCR and OCV, print presence and graphical identification.
- Designed for wet environments, with ingress protection rated at up to IP65, and hygienic design incorporating sloped surfaces.
To accommodate production line space constraints, the V15 Round Line can be integrated with Mettler-Toledo’s C-Series Checkweighers, including retrofitting on machines already in the field. In the future, integration with metal detection and x-ray systems will be available.
For more information, visit www.mt.com/vi-v15-pr.