Faedah Solutions have been involved in the dairy industry for a number of years. One application the team have been involved in was the scanning (label confirmation) and date code control of milk bottles for a large milk manufacturer.
The plastic bottles were labelled with a side label applicator. A 2D code was added to the label design. As the bottles travelled down the line, the barcodes where scanned and checked against the product information in the database. If the barcodes where incorrect, the alarm would be raised and the line stopped. The Videojet inkjet printers were controlled by the system. When the product was selected by the operator, the print information and the product date code (based on the P+) was sent to the printer. Removing the need for the operator to manually enter print information.
The line set-up also included confirmation of the cap colour on the bottles. Using a colour check camera, the colour was checked and compared against the product information.
All cameras, due to the hygiene requirements in the area, where housed in water-proof enclosures. These ensured the cameras where not affected or damaged by the hygiene process.
