Inspection Systems
Identifying only the defects that matter
Today’s data-connected inspection workflows are not the waste generators of the past. They provide a toolset to help run your business based on solid data and can help you achieve your margin goals while mitigating risk as John Cusack of Baldwin Vision Systems explains.
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n today’s highly competitive environment, printers and converters often think in terms of survival rather than growth. Minor process improvements here and there can result in minor successes and keep the business going. However, there are large operational and competitive advantages to be realized by committing resources and organizational focus to delivering enhanced print quality. Investment in the latest data-connected technologies can quickly pay for itself and provide significant bottom-line growth far into the future.
When considering that investment, it’s crucial to factor in not only the up-front capital expense, but also the business expenses that can be greatly reduced or even eliminated. What is the annual cost of press down-time to manually fix print quality issues? What is the annual cost incurred by returns and re-runs? What is the annual or potential cost of litigation associated with defective print? What is the cost of losing a valued print customer due to quality issues?
Many of these costs are easy to calculate before making decisions on technology investments. Other returns on investment are no less real, but more difficult to quantify.
The cost of damage to your reputation, the savings realised through monitoring and improving processes, the value of being able to remedy
problems as they occur (rather than after the job is run), the value of comparison and consistency from press to press, shift to shift, facility to facility. To that end, Baldwin Vision Systems offers a range of technologies aimed at enhancing print quality. These data-connected platforms provide comprehensive defect management workflows supporting the narrowest to the widest print applications. Components of these workflows include:
100% Inspection systems utilizing the industry’s most advanced defect detection algorithms to find and classify only the defects that matter. Advanced, learning algorithms monitor the capabilities of the press and automatically apply optimum inspection tolerances to each job. This approach limits nuisance defects, providing the user clean data to really help manage the print process.
Defect Tracking Databases are process historians. They provide tools to interrogate inspection data allowing the user to apply specific standards or filters to the data. Efficient data mining combined with an intuitive visualization of the data enhances strategic, business level decision making. Quality control operators can analyze for defect distribution, count, and type. Mitigate risk by eliminating the worst waste material while still meeting productivity and efficiency goals.
Finishing Controllers interface with rewinding, slitting, and sheeting equipment to automatically control when they stop/reject—allowing the business decision made at the database to be practically and quickly actioned. For many years printers understood that 100% inspection systems could help to quickly identify a process variation but finding that waste at the end of the converting workflow was a challenge. These new, connected devices have real-time access to all inspection data and in combination with various tracking systems, find the waste every time. Defect location data speeds up the converting process by allowing operators to fast-forward to the exact location of the defect within a roll which can drive up equipment efficiency by as much as 50%. Baldwin also offer a Real-Time Telemetry tool allowing printers can track and compare many different production metrics. Press managers can monitor changes on press as they happen, and make highly informed decisions about print quality, defect management, and even operator-to-operator performance. This tool acts as a central data hub to monitor, collect, and display real-time inspection data on a simple, uncluttered dashboard. Data from multiple presses, jobs, and even across multiple plants can be displayed and compared simultaneously. The combination of technologies ties together how you manage your processes, your print customers, and even your people.
Advanced, data-connected workflows give printers and converters the ability to make strategic decisions based on facts. With a tracking workflow, it’s possible to eliminate all defects from outgoing product, providing perfect quality to brand owners. It is also possible to make tactical decisions about which defects do and do not need to be removed, based on your customers’ speci¬fications while giving you complete visibility on your productivity and profitability. Real time telemetry provides instant updates on performance that can be actioned immediately or monitored over time to drive up OEE and general business performance.
Xwww.baldwinvisionsystems.com
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October 2022
www.convertermag.com
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