VISIONARY QUALITY CONTROL FOR PACKAGING OF BACON TRAYS Schwarzwaldhof implements hyperspectral seal inspection for better packaging quality

At Schwarzwaldhof, a subsidiary of EDEKA, they know what makes their Black Forest ham, sausage and bacon specialties so unique: the best ingredients, the experience of their employees combined with modern technology. And the latest addition to their extensive quality controls is a vision-based hyperspectral seal inspection system to detect bacon trays with product in the seal to avoid leaking packages.

Beside the Black Forest sliced ham and sausages, an important product assortment are trays with bacon chunks. ?The product is packaged on a MULTIVAC tray processing line, where the trays are filled and sealed under modified atmosphere conditions to preserve the freshness of the product.

Until mid-2023, the different inspection steps were X-ray, metal detection, weight control and finally before placing in carton boxes, a visual inspection was also done by the operators. The X-ray was initially intended to detect seal contamination: as the bacon products are gassed, seal inspection is crucial to preserve freshness. At a production rate of up to 120 trays per minute, this end-of-line packaging and inspection was performed by up to 5 operators, a challenging and stressful task.

Schwarzwaldhof decided to optimize the end-of line packaging and had two goals: install an automated tray stacker to reduce the number of packaging operators and secondly systematize the efficiency of the seal inspection. The X-ray system, that qualifies foreign bodies based on differences in densities, was not suitable for seal inspection as the small parts of bacon were not reliably detected in the seal. Therefore, in 2022 Schwarzwaldhof started searching for an efficient, in-line seal inspection system that could cope with different - including printed - top seals and eliminate the need for visual inspection by the end-of-line packaging team.

Groundbreaking hyperspectral seal inspection

Schwarzwaldhof first saw HyperScope? hyperspectral seal inspection solution on a FachPack tradeshow. After successful testing of sample trays, Schwarzwaldhof decided to replace their X-ray system with the hyperspectral seal inspection system. HyperScope? uses hyperspectral imaging to detect seal contamination with obvious contrast, even with printed film. The inspection system features GPU-accelerated artificial intelligence (AI), enabling real-time, high-precision seal area detection. The detected sealing area is analyzed in several post-processing steps to detect e.g. seal breaches, contamination inclusions in the seal, etc. Finally, based on configurable decision criteria the package is accepted or rejected.

Hyperspectral cameras capture information from a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum including infrared wavelengths that penetrate the plastic top films. Hyperspectral imaging, therefore, unlocks new inspection possibilities where classic imaging often falls short, e.g., on printed film packages which are often used in premium products. The system can inspect up to 160 packages per minute, a speed that is well aligned with sliced, chopped and/or bulked-food production lines.

“Seal defects can have a disastrous impact on the conservation of the bacon product.”, says the Packaging Manager at Schwarzwaldhof, “As we were streamlining our end-of-line production, it is very important for us that 100% of our products are inspected.”

Smooth installation, performant operation

The X-ray system was decommissioned and swiftly replaced by the HyperScope? system. HyperScope? is capable of processing different product variations, which is important as Schwarzwaldhof is producing for varied brands in several package weights and sizes. In total, more than 12 different product models were created and extensively validated. All daily inspection information for the different products is saved in a database that can be exported in many reporting formats.

An important benefit is the excellent remote support by Engilico’s team. The system UI can be monitored and adapted from within Engilico’s headquarters. As such, data can be captured to further train and finetune AI models, software upgrades or system fine-tuning can be efficiently addressed without wasting valuable time with local support visits.

“We experience less complaints, both internally as externally.”, concludes the Packaging Manager, “HyperScope? is a true innovative and performant inspection solution that is particularly suited for trays, even with printed top film.”