Adeco Project Engineering BV West Africa Limited

Nigerian Bottling Company Plc Challawa, Kano – Empty CAN Inspector (ECI) Machine Installation

The installation of the Empty CAN Inspector (ECI) machine has significantly enhanced the quality control processes on the canning line. By detecting and rejecting faulty cans before they are filled, the ECI machine ensures that defective cans do not compromise the productivity of the entire food line or the safety of the product.

The HEUFT canLine II, equipped with a single intelligent top-down color sensor camera, has enabled NBC’s plant in Kano to achieve highly precise empty can inspections. This system effectively prevents blockages that could slow down productivity and ensures that canned goods do not end up in contaminated, defective, or leaking primary packaging, which would render them unfit for market.

    • Industrial Automation
    • Nigerian Bottling Company Plc
    • 2024
    • Automation, ECI, Kano, NBC

Overview

HEUFT canLine II

Empty cans in top form: safety and efficiency when filling cans.

Detecting and removing faulty beverage cans before they slow down the productivity of the filling line and put the safety of the end product at risk: the extremely compact HEUFT canLine II makes the empty can inspection for protection against closer blockages and product contamination more efficient than ever before. This is ensured not only by the highly automated HEUFT SPECTRUM II platform but also, among other things, by an intelligent sensor camera with adaptive LED lighting.

Function

Finish and flanged edge inspection

Detecting deformations and safeguarding sealabilty: full line efficiency and packaging integrity when filling cans.

Misshapen, distorted and dented: empty cans with shape deviations in the neck area or indentations in the flanged edge jeopardise the efficiency and productivity of the filling process as well as the tightness and integrity of the full container. For example the lid will not fit on the can if the upper opening of the empty can is oval instead of round. The result: blockages in the closer which can lead to downtimes which slow down the productivity of complete can lines. And defects such as interrupted, dented flanged edges can endanger the tightness of the finished primary packaging material and thus the microbial purity of the beverage inside even if the sealing process was possible.

Therefore the non-contact top-down inspection of beverage cans even before filling with just one in-house developed sensor colour camera not only carries out a highly precise ovality detection in the smallest of spaces but also identifies other deformations and defects all around the container opening. Thus the empty cans in question are removed before they can cause closer problems or result in leaking full containers.

Inner wall and base inspection

Identiyfying dents, contamination and foreign objects:  empty can inspection for full product safety.

Top performance due to depth of field: the innovative colour sensor camera which is automatically adjustable in height for the top-down inspection of empty cans not only has an integrated image converter and adaptive lighting with individually controllable LEDs for optimum visibility but also such a depth of field that even dented or highly contaminated inner walls as well as soiling and foreign objects on the base of the can become clearly visible – in combination with the HEUFT reflexx A.I real-time image processing system with learning ability.

The optimised optical inspection thus covers all the safety-relevant areas of each individual empty can from top to bottom with only one single image at a time. Connected to the powerful, highly automated HEUFT SPECTRUM II control unit with audiovisual HEUFT NaVi user guidance it also carries out a comprehensive empty can inspection along high-speed lines in the tightest of spaces for safe end products which are safe to consume.

 

Outcome

The Empty CAN Inspector (ECI) offers a comprehensive inspection system tailored to the needs of Nigerian Bottling Company, Challawa providing solutions to key quality challenges:

  • Base Inspection: The bases of the CANs are inspected for foreign objects and dents before they proceed to the filler for filling. This step ensures that only CANs meeting the required quality standards are used for the filling process.
  • Finish and Flanged Edge Inspection: The CANs are inspected for defects such as rim eccentricity, dents in the rim, and foreign objects. This ensures that only intact and high-quality cans are filled, preventing issues like leaks and the use of faulty cans during production.
  • Inner Walls Inspection: The inner walls of the CANs are inspected for dents and foreign objects. Faulty cans are rejected from the production line to ensure that only high-quality cans are filled, maintaining product safety and integrity.

 

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