SHOWCASE
Advertorial
Cognex Vision Automates DVD Returns Process B
ased in California, USA, Netflix is the world's leading internet subscription service for enjoy-
ing films and TV programmes. They also provide online ordering for DVD rental, dispatch and return by post, processing approximately two million DVDs per day. One of the company’s most expen- sive processes was the handling of DVD returns. Huge resources were tied up in manually opening mailers, taking out the sleeved discs, checking the titles on the DVDs against the sleeves, checking the discs for physical defects, cleaning them and scan- ning them into the system. Therefore, to improve production quality and reduce labour costs, Netflix asked several of the world’s leading automation companies to propose solutions for their customer returns process. Bronway Automation, a specialist automation solutions provider based in County Wicklow, Ireland was one of the two companies selected to build a prototype for the trial. They designed, developed and installed their
ARRM3600
(Automated Rental Return Machine) prototype in a Netflix distribution hub in California and following an intensive trial period set within a live production environment, Bronway achieved superior perform- ance results and were awarded the contract to sup- ply 180 production units, directly to 42 Netflix dis- tribution centres across the USA.
Vision makes the difference To undertake the necessary inspection and verifica- tion checks throughout the rental returns process, the ARRM unit utilises advanced DataMan® 100 code readers from Cognex to read barcodes on the envelope, sleeve and DVD disc, which is communi- cated by the Bronway ARRM to a central server to ensure complete traceability throughout the
process. Each ARRM unit has nine DataMan 100 code readers positioned at various stations to undertake barcode reading and inspection tasks for 3,600 mailers per hour. James Frost, General Manager at Bronway Automation commented,
“Cognex and the
DataMan 100 were chosen because they offered a single vision solution that could read the Netflix disc hub barcode at any radial orientation and the reading of barcodes to determine the orientation of the Netflix sleeves. No other supplier could offer a single unit to address both requirements. Following contract discussions with Cognex for the 1,620 DataMan units required we were satisfied that the DataMan 100 was the correct choice for Bronway, both technically and commercially.” At the start of the returns process, the Netflix mailers are loaded onto the first of two rotating carousels. Each mailer is placed in a nest and then rotated under the second station where it is checked for thickness (no disc, one disc or two discs). For single disc mailers, a DataMan 100 is positioned above the dial plate to read a barcode on the outside of the mailer, should the mailer be orientated upwards. A second DataMan 100, posi- tioned below the dial plate, reads the barcode if the mailer is facing downwards. The next step is to cut open the mailer which is then rotated to the next station where the loose flap is removed, before being transferred onwards. Once the sleeve has been extracted, the DataMan 100s identify the barcode position to determine the orientation of the sleeve so that the disc can be extracted from the sleeve. When a barcode is detected, the data and location is reported to the ARRM, thus allowing the orientation of the sleeve to be determined and manipulated later on in the
/ IRISHMANUFACTURING
process by repositioning the open side of the sleeve outwards so the disc can be removed. Each Netflix DVD has a doughnut shaped bar- code label affixed around the centre hole on the artwork side of the disc. This is called a hub ring label. Once the disc has been removed from the sleeve, the barcode must be scanned. The disc can be in one of two orientations and two DataMan 100s are mounted here to read the barcode on the hub ring label. The orientation of the hub ring bar- code is not fixed in a specific radial orientation; the camera must read it regardless of position. The ori- entation of the disc is determined by the DataMan 100 that returns a barcode result. The disc is then re-orientated if necessary for subsequent cleaning and surface scanning. Once the discs have passed the surface scan inspection, they are reinserted into their original sleeve. The final DataMan 100 scans the barcode on every sleeve prior to the ARRM3600 assigning its delivery to a specific location for fur- ther processing. Paul Johnson, Director of Operations Support, Netflix Inc stated, “Since go-live, this project has exceeded our expectations in all areas. Having automation to check that the correct disc is in the right sleeve has had a measureable impact on our customer satisfaction.
The reliability of the
DataMan 100 has been excellent, and even when we did have an apparent issue with the readers (the root cause of which was actually with a USB hub) the speed with which Cognex sent an engi- neer to work alongside Bronway to quickly resolve the problem on-site really impressed me.”
Cognex Tel: 01327 856040 Web:
www.cognex.com
enter 802 IRISH MANUFACTURING | SUMMER 2014 27
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