imaging and machine vision europe october/november 2010
www.imveurope.com
4
news
Further indicators of recovery in vision industry
A number of recent indicators suggest that the vision industry has weathered the worst of the global recession and is poised to emerge with positive signs of growth. An informal survey of UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) members attending the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing exhibition earlier in 2010 revealed an upturn in enquiry levels and actual business since the beginning of 2010. Elsewhere, German camera manufacturer IDS Imaging Development Systems has recorded sales in the first half of 2010 up by 60 per cent year on year. With such strong growth, IDS expects the sales target for 2010 will be reached ahead of schedule in September. Additionally, IDS reports
a very positive outlook for the coming months regarding the order situation and delivery capabilities. ‘So far, 2008 has been our best year on record in terms of sales, but we expect to exceed that figure significantly this year,’ said Torsten Wiesinger, director of marketing and sales at IDS. ‘Our sales target is 45,000 cameras.’ In the area of flat panel displays, Dalsa has recently secured an order valued at more than $3m (Canadian) for inspection equipment to be used in a new Asia- Pacific flat panel display factory. The order includes Dalsa’s flagship high performance line scan cameras and frame grabbers, with the delivery of the majority of these multiple hundreds of units scheduled for the
news From UKIVA By Don Braggins
Complaints about fixture congestion are usually restricted to highly paid Premiership football managers, but imaging companies would have grounds for similar concerns with no less than three imaging exhibitions taking place in consecutive weeks across the world. The 7th China International Machine Vision Exhibition and Machine Vision Technology and Application Conference is being held on 27-29 October in Beijing, PRC; Photonex will take place on 3-4 November at Telford in the UK, while Vision 2010 will open its doors on 9-11 November in Stuttgart, Germany. Scheduling of exhibitions close together can place high demands on exhibitors and the logistics involved in transporting equipment. While it is often possible to get hold of enough cameras and other products to support multiple exhibitions, few companies will want to invest in
duplicate stand material. In addition, many vision companies offer quite sophisticated demonstrations at exhibitions and these cannot always be readily duplicated. As well as finite resources of exhibition material, potential exhibitors have a finite pool of staff who are fully equipped to answer visitor questions and they can’t be in multiple places at the same time.
Close scheduling of exhibitions is not a new phenomenon. Some years ago, before the new fairgrounds were built, the dates between the AIA Vision Show and Vision Stuttgart clashed with successive weeks. With many exhibitors keen to be at both shows, it was not uncommon for some stands to be missing until the second day of the second show! It would seem that the only practical solution is for exhibition organisers to get together to avoid potential clashes. Closely scheduled
exhibitions are not just a problem for potential exhibitors, but also for visitors.
The UKIVA will have exhibition stands at both Photonex and the Vision Show and our literature stand and A3 photoboard display facilities for members can be particularly useful if members don’t have the resources to exhibit at both shows, or want to test the response to their products at a particular show. Ten UKIVA members or their parent companies are exhibiting at Vision. In addition, many other UKIVA members distribute products from principals who will be exhibiting, so we expect many of our members to be attending the show. This will be the fourth consecutive year that we have a stand at Vision. This provides our members who are visiting, but not exhibiting, with a point of contact at the show as well as a location that they can use for business meetings.
first half of 2011. Brian Doody, CEO of Dalsa, commented: ‘Activity in the flat panel display capital equipment market has been very brisk this year, but I am pleased to report that we are seeing strong sales across a wide range of markets, including life sciences imaging and general machine vision. Our digital imaging outlook for the remainder of the year is very positive.’ Recently published surveys for
2010 from the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and the Automated Imaging Association (AIA) in the US predict an 11 per cent increase in turnover and a 2.6-4.6 per cent in crease in sales respectively in their particular regions.
Parcel sorting aided by machine vision
DHL has replaced laser scanners with camera-based parcel recognition technology from Vitronic at its distribution hubs in Madrid, Barcelona and Vitoria. The camera-based system provides higher read rates than laser scanners and allows higher throughput. Vitronic’s Spanish partner, Lyl Ingeneria, handled the project. Lyl Ingeneria installed Vipac RD at DHL’s three Spanish distribution centres. Each uses three Vitronic Vicam-ssi2 cameras that photograph five sides of a parcel, and reads barcodes in any orientation on these faces. The conveyors run at speeds of up to two metres per second, which means each hub can automatically process approximately 4,700 packages per hour. Technical manager Juan Iraola commented: ‘In comparison with scanners, we now have a very high read rate. This lowers our costs immensely and substantially improves our internal processes.’ Vipac RD achieves read rates approaching 100 per cent.
Vipac RD is also certified to measure volume. It builds a three-dimensional image of a parcel before measuring its height width and length, and calculating its volume. DHL can use this data to prepare statistics on internal processes, automate invoicing, optimise space in transit vehicles, and verify customer-provided package information. Elsewhere, Post Danmark has seen a 25 per cent increase in the read rate of parcels at its Brøndby parcel sorting hub, as a result of upgrades carried out by Dutch OCR specialist Prime Vision on Post Danmark’s existing OCR and ICR solution.
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