Roberts PolyPro, a division of Pro Mach, and Label Vision Systems (LVS) jointly introduced recently CartonSpec - a high-speed vision inspection and data acquisition system for folding cartons.
The CartonSpec system has been in development for more than a year. The system appeals particularly to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, where print quality and appearance, data acquisition, and the minimization of risk are all paramount concerns. In fact, every high-volume/high-speed carton operation can potentially benefit from its capabilities.
"This system differs from other solutions because it is the only one that is inline with the folder gluer," said Roy Tetreault, general manager, Roberts PolyPro. "CartonSpec inspects and records data on 100 percent of the folding cartons as they are fed into the folder gluer and does so at speeds of up to 1,000 feet per minute."
Tetreault said that out-of-specification cartons can be rejected before product is inserted, and the organization can have an individual record of every carton entering the folder gluer. There is no other system on the market that can deliver this level of inspection and data acquisition with nearly zero labor cost.
Scott Lydell, North American sales manager at LVS, adds, "Cartons enter folder gluers with the print side down, so until now the only way to inspect print quality was offline, which adds an extra step to the production process. Furthermore, the offline inspection was only for print quality, not scuffs and damage to the carton that can frequently occur as cartons are fed into the folder gluer.
"The CartonSpec inline system lowers labor costs for carton inspection because there is no need for an additional inspection step. The return on investment in labor savings alone is compelling, not to mention the many other advantages offered.
