Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019 - 14

QUALITY CONTROL

A vision of quality
Plastics processors operating in
today's tough business environment
are hard put to maintain their
competitive edge. Hence, ensuring
quality on an ongoing basis is
essential. Artificial vision systems can
offer a solution. By Karen Laird

ntelligent vision systems - systems
that are able to automatically process visual inputs - have been
evolving for over 20 years and are today are available in all shapes and sizes. Due to their flexibility, vision systems have found wide industrial use
in quality control, as well as in the
automation of industrial processes
and robot guidance.
The market is showing burgeoning growth: machine vision technology has been predicted to reach
€12bn by 2023, with a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.61%
from 2017. According to the global
association for vision information
AIA, this growth is being driven by a
number of factors, including the
need for quality inspection and automation inside factories, growing demand for artificial intelligence and
Internet of Things integrated systems
that depend on machine vision, increasing adoption of Industry 4.0
technology that uses vision to improve the productivity of robotic automation, and government initiatives
to support smart factories across the
globe.

company has grown and expanded,
opening two offices in Germany and
one in Malaysia in order to be closer
to the rising number of international
customers.
Neadvance builds systems based
on Industry 4.0 concepts that can
'see, read, reason, measure, compare,

Quality is a priority
In the plastics industry, quality inspection and dimension measurement are
the main uses for these systems, said
Jens Kayser, sales manager at Neadvance, a young technology company
headquartered in Portugal that builds
intelligent vision systems for a wide
range of sectors.
In June 2017, Neadvance was
spun out of Enermeter, a Braga, Portugal-based technology company
that develops solutions for the metering and artificial vision sectors.
"Neadvance is a new name in the
market, but we have been active in
the field for close to 20 years, having
formed the artificial vision department of Enermeter since 2001,"
Kayser explained.
Building on this expertise, in the
two short years since its founding the

"To remain competitive
in a globalised world,
the industry in Europe
must take advantage
of the innovative
technologies available.
Today, they cannot rest
on the successes of the
past"
Jens Kayser, Neadvance
14

examine, monitor, detect, calculate
and guide', said Kayser. "They can
also be used as standalone solutions
- cell - integrated into processes or
by using robots." The applications are
extremely diverse, he added.
And while quality is but one of the
many areas in which the company's
systems find application, it is an important one.
For most manufacturers today, improving quality is a priority, said
Kayser. "Our customers are looking
for efficiency, as in today's globalised
world, they are in competition with
low-cost producers. They are fighting
to be flexible and to produce at the
lowest cost possible, with the highest
possible quality." As local producers,
they offer the advantage of lower
transport costs, he added.
Quality testing and validation can
eat up a large part of a company's
quality budget. Time consuming,
these activities are cost intensive to
perform, subject to human error
and, even in the best of worlds, are
based on spot checks rather than
100% inspection.
Yet end customers demand quality
products, holding producers to targets
such as PPM rates. Quality performance is required all the way down
their supply chains, as companies seek
to establish themselves as reliable suppliers and to avoid claims. Moreover, in
a globalised world, companies are demanding the same standards everywhere they operate, regardless of distance and local sourcing.

JULY/AUGUST 2019

Plastics News Europe - July/August 2019

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