Vision systems in the food industry

Interview with Tomasz Kalinski responsible for new projects in the Food industry

Tomasz Kalinski Sales Engineer, New Projects Specialist at Scanway Industry. On a daily basis, responsible for the food industry, among others, he talks not only about the theoretical possibilities of vision systems, but also about ongoing projects, daily work with the customer and probable scenarios of market development.

The food industry is a very broad term, how do you identify a niche and the needs of specific customers?

TK: Our good contacts with integrators and partners, such as PID Poland and Takom, are very helpful in recognizing the market. Thanks to their experience and contacts, we were able to study and recognize the needs of customers, which later translated into a wide range of vision topics. Also, involvement in marketing campaigns and presence at trade fairs helped strengthen our position in this market. By increasing our knowledge of the market, we were able to start working on solutions to specific production problems of Customers, such as recognizing double-seam defects in canned food production.

You monitor the market, visit trade fairs and conferences, but more importantly you deal with the customer on a daily basis. What do you think is the biggest need for manufacturers in the food industry?

TK: From my observations, the most common need from customers is the need to seal the production process. Multi-step processes with huge capacities, very common among our clients, generate problems related to raw material flow and tracking.

Does the presence of vision systems in the food production process provide any less obvious benefits than broad quality control?

TK: Additional advantages of using vision systems are the digitization and automation of the process. Data that was previously recorded or only memorized by employees is now instantly stored in the plant’s internal database, where it can be kept securely for a long time. In turn, automation creates the possibility of freeing up operators, such as quality control stations, who can be redeployed to other tasks. This can lead to increased plant capacity, as well as long-term savings.

Can you tell us about some interesting implementation of such a system?

TK: Every implementation is interesting in its own way. I worked on a project where there was a need for automatic counting of livestock arriving at the plant. It was precisely due to inaccurate counting by employees who were also performing other tasks at the same time. An error of even one piece caused problems such as the inability to properly account for the grower/supplier, or a mismatch between the expected weight of products at the output of the process and the counted input weight. Therefore, a vision solution such as automatic livestock counting seals the production process at its input, which in turn translates into further profits.

What do you think the future of vision systems and new technologies in the food industry will look like?

TK: While the development and spread of vision systems in the food industry is certain, the exact direction will be determined by market needs. If the focus is on maximizing quality, then vision-based product inspection systems will be the most common choice. Classification systems will then become popular, allowing products to be assigned a grade whose quality standards are met. An example is the inspection of chicken breast fillets, which vision systems inspect for congestion, raggedness, discoloration and even bones. In order to maintain competitiveness and brand reputation, premium fillet manufacturers ensure that fillets hitting store shelves are free of visual defects. If the trend is forcing factories to maximize efficiency, then any manual operator stations will be replaced by automated, or robotic, high-capacity lines. An example of this is the inspection of collagen protein casings, which, due to the automation of production lines, can no longer be performed manually by workers. Fully automatic, human factor-independent, high-performance inspection based on artificial intelligence models has become necessary there.

Tomasz Kalinski

New Projects Specialist
Expert in vision system applications in the food and meat industry. Passionate about new technologies and innovation.