Johnsonville gives its nod to x-ray system
January 29, 2014
In an effort to determine the most reliable x-ray inspection system for its needs, Johnsonville Sausage, based in Sheboygan, WI, reportedly conducted plant-wide tests with machines from three vendors.
Starting with a six-month trial with one system that resulted in higher than expected reject rates after the first scan, technicians found that only one-third of the rejects actually contained contaminants when x-rayed for a second time. The co. was concerned with the machine's potential for false rejects, resulting in slower output and profit loss.
In the trial's final stages, an Eagle Pack™ x-ray system from Smiths Detection (www.smithsdetection.com) was brought in for a direct, side-by-side comparison with the first machine, plus one from another manufacturer. The Eagle Pack inspected two lanes of products running at the same time alongside one another: One ran the primary product, the second ran reworked, rejected items, where the Simul-Task 3.0™ image analysis software holds the picture of the scanned product so the product can be retrieved from the reject bin. The contaminated piece was removed and replaced without any effect on the output.
“We're constantly amazed by the consistency and reliability of the system,” comments Johnsonville Sausage project engineer Erik Larson. It's said that Johnsonville will count on Smiths for x-ray inspection technology.
Smiths Detection, 865/934-2286.
www.smithsdetectionpid.com.
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