“I caught a record-breaking walleye last weekend,” an excited Joe announced to his colleagues after returning from his annual fishing excursion to Canada.
“Record-breaking? Really? Prove it.” demanded his doubtful co-worker.
Well, I left my cell phone in the cabin so it wouldn’t get wet on the boat so I couldn’t take a picture, but I swear that big guy was the main course for dinner.”
“Okay, sure it was Joe.”
We have all been there — spotted a mountain lion, witnessed an amazing random human interaction, or maybe caught a glimpse at a shooting star. These are great stories, but they are so much more believable and memorable with a picture or video to back them up. Now a days, we all carry a camera within arm’s reach. Capturing life events has never been easier and more common, so why not use cameras to document and record important events and stages within your manufacturing process?
As the smart phone becomes more advanced and common, so does the technology and hardware for industrial cameras (i.e. machine vision). Machine vision can do so much more than pass fail and measurement type applications. Taking, storing, and relaying pictures along different stages of a production process could not only set you apart from the competition but also save you costly quality disputes after it leaves your facility. A picture can tell a thousand words, so what do you want to tell the world? Here are just a couple examples how you can back up you brand with machine vision:
Package integrity: We have all seen the reduced rack at a grocery store where a can is dented or missing a label. If this was caused by a large-scale label application defect, someone is losing business. So, before everyone starts pointing fingers, the manufacturer could simply provide a saved image from their end-of line-vision system to prove the cans were labeled when shipped from their facility.
Assembly defects: When you are producing assembled parts for a larger manufacturer, the standards they set are what you live and die by. If there is ever a dispute, having several saved images from either individual parts or an audit of them throughout the day could prove your final product met their specifications and could save your contract.
Barcode legibility and placement: Show your retail partners that your product’s bar code will not frustrate the cashier by having to overcome a poorly printed or placed barcode. Share images with them to show an industrial camera easily reading the code along the packaging line ensuring a hassle-free checkout as well as a barcode grade to ensure their barcode requirements are being met.
In closing, pictures always help tell a story and make it more credible. Ideally your customers will take your word for it, but when you catch the record-breaking walleye, you want to prove it.
