Inspecting Foil Packaging
A major food manufacturer of prepared meal products wanted to have complete inspection in place to insure the quality of the product. The problem, however was this product was packaged in an aluminum tray within a chipboard carton. Being a large product with metal packaging and varying degrees of conductivity due to the freezing process meant that classical metal detection was impossible. As such, x-ray inspection with SimulTask imaging software was the solution.  Download PDF

Inspection of Bulk Peanuts
A major peanut processor wanted to improve product quality by removing contaminants such as stone, dirt clumps, metal and glass. The frequency of occurrence was too high for closed package inspection as this would result in very high reject rates leading to excessive rework. As may be seen in the accompanying photos to the right, the product was conveyed as a steady stream on a conveyor through the Smiths Detection Eagle Bulk-Narrow x-ray system. Contaminants were selectively detected and rejected from a falling stream. This resulted in a high degree of product purity with minimal false reject and therefore less reclaim work. This application note will show the detection limits for bulk inspection.  Download PDF

Inspecting for Items
A major manufacturer of pre-mixed desert products wanted to insure that all components were properly in the package. This product has three pouches, with the "problem" being a small very light weight pouch. They had tried check weighing, but had little success as the overall weight variations often exceeded the small pouch weight. The Smiths Detection Eagle Pack was installed and with the help of onboard SimulTask, the job was successfully completed. Now, this customer not only has on line contaminant detection (which was precluded before due to the metalized pouches inside), but is achieving an overall check weigh of the carton, verification that the two larger pouches are present, and confidence that the smallest pouch is also present.  Download PDF

Detecting a Void from Missing Premium
A major food manufacturer of cereal products inserts a premium into the cereal carton to enhance sales. This premium is in the form of a toy plus spoon inside a small plastic bag. The problem they encountered was that the insertion machine occasionally missed a carton. There was no way to monitor insertion of the premium due to the low weight that could not be verified with a check-weigher. SimulTask was successful in achieving the goal by identifying the toy as an object and rejecting any carton without this object. In addition, this customer was able to detect dense contaminants (metal, glass, stone), check-weigh, and detect sugar agglomerates.  Download PDF

Counting Raisins
A major food manufacturer of cereal products wanted to ensure their product is always top quality. This meant that the company was responsible for making sure that the amounts of advertised raisins were, in fact, in the carton. The problem was that the multi-head weighers would occasionally dump only one bucket of raisins rather than the required two. The total weight could be correct as flakes would make up the difference. The company invested in Smiths Detection, and now not only is the raisin content consistent, but the product is also monitored for dense contaminants and gross contents weight exclusive of the carton glue ends. This application note will describe how these tasks were accomplished.  Download PDF

Case Inspection
A major food manufacturer of potato chips and various extruded products wished to upgrade his product inspection methods. The falling throat metal detectors were effective for metal, but metal was not the primary customer complaint. Metal detectors also eliminated closed pack inspection due to the metal foil packaging. The solution was the Smiths Detection Eagle Case. Not only did SimulTask give him the metal/glass/stone detection he wanted, but also detected the number one problem, seasoning lumps.  Download PDF

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