As any factory-floor engineer can tell you, finding solid solutions to the simplest manufacturing problems often can yield the greatest benefits.

This was the case at Silver City Aluminum (www.scaluminum.com), Taunton, Mass., a manufacturer of custom aluminum extrusions and finished parts.

The extrusion process is pretty straightforward. Large rolls of aluminum-called billets-are fed into the extrusion machine, pressed into a die using hydraulic power, and heated. It emerges as a slat, blind, or other shaped-aluminum product.

"Occasionally, after a billet has been cut, the excess fails to fall off," say Silver City's maintenance manager, Larry Johnson. "When this hanging piece hits the die, it can destroy it-to the tune of about $10,000 in replacement costs-or cause the machine to shut down, leading to expensive production losses." The challenge for Silver City was to find an inspection solution that could fit into a space-constrained area, be able to inspect a large area, and perform reliably in harsh environmental conditions while not breaking the bank.  read more »

Specifying and implementing a machine vision solution used to be a task reserved solely for the end user and probably with help from his system integrator. Have newer generations of machine vision made you feel ready to take it on yourself? Read ThyssenKrupp System Engineering's account (A Complicated Vision) of how the machine builder added machine vision system integration to its task list when its customer found too many engines failing their final quality test because of operator errors during assembly.  read more »

Markus Tarin, the president of MoviMed, who wrote the excellent "Vision to Innovate" machine vision case history that appeared in the April and May issues, as well as here:

http://www.controldesign.com/articles/2011/Vision1104.html?page=full

sent along this link to comments from an experienced machine vision pro who thought as much of the story as we did. And he knows way more about the technology than we do.  read more »

This machine vision application required a lot of alternative thinking. How far will you go to discard conventional automation deployment for a potentially excellent, but riskier, machine automation fix?  read more »

With so many vision systems available today, it can be a daunting task trying to figure out which one is right for your particular application. Simply finding a system that can perform the necessary vision tasks is not enough; there are several other factors that need to be considered to ensure a successful deployment. How can I be sure I'm selecting the right vision systems? What factors do I need to consider to ensure a successful deployment?

Visualization software that's integrated with the control software allows Kays Engineering to customize the operator interface without worrying about the software elements functioning together. How important is a custom OI?

Adding a vision system to an existing machine can enable it to handle new applications, like identifying and positioning delicate pastries so icing can be applied in printed patterns. Which applications have you expanded by adding vision?

Smarter software is now able to differentiate between dissimilar parts, regardless of size or orientation. Which sorts of applications are you using vision for, and how limited are you in setting your shape parameters by the software's ability?