Company: Antares Vision Group

Website: www.antaresvision.com

Equipment Snapshot: Antares Vision Group has introduced a new series of inspection machines offering comprehensive, customizable packaging inspection for food & beverage applications. To meet wide-ranging customer quality control needs, the company’s All-in-One equipment portfolio incorporates multiple inspection controls into single machines, maximizing production space and manpower efficiencies while offering exemplary quality assurance.

Combinable features for Antares Vision Group’s All-in-One series include regulatory compliance, container integrity, micro-leak (micro-hole) and contaminants detection, weight control, and labelling/print verification for parameters such as expiration date and lot code. In combining these attributes into single machines, AVG aims to create a new paradigm for innovation in quality inspection for food & beverage brands—one that balances the often difficult-to-square needs for multi-faceted quality control and streamlined production optimization.  

The new portfolio is made possible thanks in part to the expertise of Antares Vision Group subsidiary FT System, as well as Pen-Tec, which specializes in inspection controls and has been active in the food & beverage industry for over two decades. Combined, the two players offer a multi-technology portfolio—from laser and hyperspectral spectroscopy to vision and weight control and x-ray inspection—that guarantees exemplary quality control and satisfies the needs of all supply chain stakeholders.

The first All-in-One models combine inspections required by regulations with innovative applications that enable food & beverage companies to:

• Check for the presence of micro-holes in packaging: All-in-One models can incorporate an in-line system to detect micro-holes. This functionality is applicable to both trays and flow packs, and does not require changing line speed or composing gas for product conservation. Based on IR spectroscopy or gas sensors, the system selectively, quickly, and accurately identifies the presence of target molecules exiting the package, indicating a micro-hole. For precision micro-hole detection, it is possible to use CO₂ as the target molecule for products in modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), alcohol for the bakery sector, and common flavorings for certain other products.
• Check for the presence of foreign bodies: X-rays are used to detect fragments of glass, bone, metal, plastic, or stones that may have accidentally ended up in the product during the production process, or as raw materials leftovers.
• Check the weight of the product: This is fundamental to avoiding food waste, monitoring and optimizing production line efficiency, and complying with regulations in both North American and the EU concerning product weight inspection.
• Check the seal: All-in-One machines can utilize hyperspectral technology to detect the presence of food in the seals of transparent, colored, and opaque packaging.
• Check labels and codes: The system prevents products with labeling errors (such as incorrect expiration date or lot code) or other incorrect information from reaching the market.

Other advantages of Antares Vision Group’s All-in-One series include reduced machine dimensions (similar footprint as most standard checkweighers), a single user interface overseeing all inspection parameters, differentiated waste and automatic recipe settings, and reduced energy consumption. In addition, much like AVG’s standalone solutions, each machine in its All-in-One series can be integrated into the company’s Digital Factory software platform, which seamlessly connects all solutions to optimize production and monitor efficiency.

Furthermore, by leveraging Antares Vision Group’s expertise, food & beverage brand owners can integrate inspection results and attributes with end-to-end product traceability, ensuring transparency and safety in all stages of their supply chains.

“All-in-One is a revolutionary approach to in-line quality control in Food,” said Matteo Bandini, food and packaging director, Antares Vision Group Food. “Now, a single machine contains all the quality controls necessary to satisfy the safety and quality demands of all supply chain stakeholders, from production to distribution to the end-user. From now on, our customers will only have to think about which inspections they need to ensure quality and safety for the consumer—not how many machines they have to buy. Antares Vision Group’s All-in-One series does everything.”