Safety and the importance of quality are driving inspection equipment trends. But companies asking for more cost-effective line efficiency are further expanding the pivotal role inspection technology plays in the process, experts say. Building on smart systems and process automation trends, packaging experts are able to monitor packaging integrity, challenges with filling, and more without sacrificing line speed or date markers.

Accessibility and freshness markers provide consumers reassurance that what they are drinking is safe and also easy to drink. It’s becoming the norm for torque specs to be included in requests for inspection equipment, according to Brian Belardinelli, sales manager at Pembroke, Mass.-based FT System North America.

“[Torque specs are important because] if you go to open a Gatorade [bottle] and it’s too hard to open, kids can’t open it at a baseball game,” Belardinelli explains. Inspection equipment technology is evolving to keep pace with torque specs and more, he adds.

Oliver Wyrsch, general manager at Mettler Toledo, Columbus, Ohio, confirms systems can be pushed to perform faster inspections to add in-line inspection without sacrificing production speeds or date markers.

“Mettler Toledo CI-Vision’s biggest developments made are on the software side, particularly with regards to in-line inkjet inspection — text like lot codes and expiration dates, for example,” he says.

The desire for precision results in a complex network of cameras, lasers — in some cases robots —checking positioning, marking and capping on every bottle. But ensuring primary packaging security is not enough for some beverage companies.

“Tamper-evident bands, sleeves and seals are designed to prevent the improper opening of a product, which could cause damage to not only the product itself, but also to the brand’s reputation,” explains Melissa Rossi, director of marketing at Teledyne TapTone, North Falmouth, Mass. “Pharmaceutical companies have used tamper-evident (and child-proof) packaging for decades, and food and beverage packagers are now adapting the technology for use.”

Maintaining quality

FT System’s Belardinelli says timing requirements to inspect earlier in the process are changing as well.

“We are seeing an increase in the requirement to inspect containers and closures before filling and sealing to ensure quality and accountability,” he explains. “This applies to glass and metal containers where FT System will inspect for foreign objects as well as any defects in the glass or the can that could affect safety or quality.” 

FT System’s ROBO QCS brings a fully automated In-line inspection to the customer without causing damage or loss of product. Additionally, automated in-line sampling is on the rise by spirits and large beer producers, Belardinelli says.

The move to push systems to do more in-line inspections and sampling early and often without disruption ultimately reduces manual processes and the associated time and labor expense. This is where businesses notice considerable savings, he adds.

“Quality departments are being skimmed down,” Belardinelli says. “Rather than spend QA time, we have units now that take a sample every minute and take two minutes to check weights and torques before sending anything back.”

Packaging pressure

Beverage categories have unique needs, and inspection equipment and technology must be able to adapt to the variety in size, shape and material of the bottles.

Inspecting unique containers and hot-fill applications also require sound inspection equipment. “[Laser absorption spectroscopy] sounds complicated, but basically these systems will detect vacuum in hot- filled applications, pressure in LN2 dosed or carbonated applications or spoilage that results in bacteria growth simply by passing the sealed container through the lasers path on the production line,” Belardinelli says. “There is no contact with the container, so shape is a non-issue.”

Since containers also perform differently under pressure, evalution of the container should occur before inspection, Belardinelli notes. Rigid containers cannot use squeeze technology and may need to be inspected with sensors or lasers, he adds.

Companies are coming up with new software sytems and equipment to keep pace with demand. For example, compression system uses a conveyer with slight compression to increase pressure in the headspace before moving the container past pressure sensors. Finally, the internal pressure is measured before being released to a regular production conveyor. Designed for large containers requiring moderate leak detection sensitivity, TapTone’s easy-to-use system enables the user to set the reference points, Rossi says. The company also offers inspection systems for stand-up pouches.

“The TapTone PRO Series Pouch Inspector system finds and rejects leaking and damaged pouches at production line speeds up to 200 feet per minute,” the company said in a statement.

Experts note that the future of inspection equipment will be center upon more automation, less line downtime and increased accountability of line activities, whether manual or automated.