FT System, Italy, specializes in the design and production of high technology inspection and control devices for insertion in any bottling or packaging line for water, beverages, wines, liquors, beer, milk, or fruit juices. FT Systems has a direct presence in Italy and international markets with its own subsidiaries and distributors to provide customers with qualified before and after sales support.

Already a Cognex customer, FT System found it easy to choose OmniView, a 360° bottle inspection solution system unique to machine vision. It is capable of an accurate reconstruction of the final image from images received from multiple video cameras placed on the line. Cognex was sensitive to the requests and demands of FT Systems, developing features based on feedback obtained in the field by FT Systems.

The OmniView system was integrated into the company’s IE4000 label inspection machine. OmniView has eliminated the principal weak point of 360° inspection systems, which was dependent on the position of the bottles on the line for the quality of the final images. Using 3-D reconstruction, it is possible to generate stable images of the bottles, enabling label checks to be made as if perfectly flattened.

OmniView lowers the cost of the production line

The system adopted by FT System includes four cameras that can see the surface of the bottles in whatever position they may be. The OmniView software processes the images and displays them in a single image compensating for any variation in position during transportation. To inspect a particular feature of interest, it is sufficient to configure the inspection system directly on the whole reconstructed image. OmniView eliminates the costly requirements associated with mechanical rotation of the parts to enable them to be inspected. In this manner, it is possible to reduce the complexity of the production line, lowering the costs and increasing the production rate.

Advantages of OmniView:
•    No need to rotate the parts to inspect them
•    Whole surface of bottles can be inspected at the same time
•    Full inspection can be carried out without contact at a speed of up to 1,000 parts per minute
•    Effective solutions benefit from Cognex's advanced vision algorithms
•    A more rapid and convenient alternative then linear video cameras.

By combining the new system with an existing structure, it was possible to benefit from FT System's experience in the field of label inspection in order to rapidly provide customers with a versatile machine. The applications run from recognition of scratches or tears to the inspection of printing as well as the ability to read codes and inspect OCV/OCR. The VisionPro libraries built into OmniView combined with the experience of FT Systems have made it possible to create a product dedicated to the bottling sector.

Today, the FT System IE4000-3D machine with Cognex OmniView has produced optimum results satisfying the requirements of companies bottling wine, liquors, juices and drinks, with production ranging from 10,000 to 50,000 bottles per hour.