FBI Performance: 100% Inspection at High Speeds

Consumer demand is forcing manufacturers and packagers to increase production. Efficiency-conscious beverage companies require the fastest in automated processes that still effectively meet strict quality standards. METTLER TOLEDO CI-Vision’s Full Bottle Inspection (FBI) solution ensures accurate results even when production demands are high.

Today’s global beverage manufacturing and packaging industry is rapidly expanding its production to meet growing consumer demand. In recent years, more than 175 new lines have been installed in Asia alone. To meet this growing demand, manufacturers require the most efficient production performance, while maintaining the highest quality product with retailers and consumers.

In order for manufacturers to reach optimal performance, their process must be accurate, precise and reliable.  Repeatability in the high-speed inspection of 100% of product is an invaluable advantage to today’s beverage manufacturers.

Demanding Beverage Production 
Over a 4 year period, beverage manufacturers increased the size of their brand portfolios by 25 percent.  With hopes of gaining additional growth, this surge has resulted in manufacturers managing multiple product packaging and brands. 

The need to facilitate and monitor the production value and quality of multiple brands puts pressure on manufacturers to minimize costs while streamlining production schedules. 

When deciding to implement an automated system, such as machine vision inspection, consider what performance needs are necessary in order to provide an immediate ROI. 

Higher speed brings higher risk
The speed of today’s bottling lines has increased to an average of 720 bottles per minute, with some lines running much faster. At these speeds, thorough manual inspection of 100% of packaged products is nearly impossible, increasing the likelihood of a defective packaged product reaching the retailer and the consumer, therefore damaging retailer relationships and undermining a manufacturer’s brand image with consumers.

Investing in automated vision inspection lets the manufacturer achieve both high productivity and thorough inspection.  Mettler-Toledo CI-Vision’s Full Bottle Inspection (FBI) solution inspects a bottle for multiple defects in milliseconds and can track and reject a defective bottle along the production line. 100% inspection of product can occur reliably without ever slowing the production line.

FBI meets the need
CI-Vision’s FBI solution was designed specifically for the inspection and production needs of beverage manufacturers.  The FBI inspects filled bottles at up to 1,200 per minute for proper fill level, cap integrity (missing, incorrect, skewed and under- or over-torqued cap) and tamper-evident band integrity. Defective bottles are detected and automatically rejected before ever reaching a retailer, or even worse a consumer.

Line operators take ownership of the FBI system with quick and easy product inspection set up and changeovers using our intuitive CIVCore 10 software. The FBI system installs over an existing production line, saving valuable plant floor space and production time.