Measurement Sensors
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Displacement Measurement
8 Ways Food Inspection Sensors Reduce Waste
Reducing waste in the food and beverage industry plays a major role in achieving sustainable food production. Food companies are better able to deliver products that meet regulatory and consumer standards while also reducing the cost of wasted ingredients. Using sensors to reduce industrial waste in critical control points provides many more benefits. In the following, we discuss eight of them.
1. Enhanced Detection Accuracy
In contrast to manual inspection methods, inline measurement sensors can quickly and accurately measure various parameters (like temperature and humidity). A wide range of measurable data by these sensor systems enables stakeholders to accurately detect the source of any issues affecting product safety and quality.
Sensors can also reduce industrial waste by integrating with machine learning algorithms or data analytics. Combining everything together improves the detection of defects, contaminants, and other anomalies, especially in extreme production environments.
Enhanced detection helps reduce or eliminate waste caused by product recalls as a result of incorrect error detection during production.
2. Real-Time Monitoring and Feedback
Real-time monitoring provided by food inspection sensors enables swift detection of defects and irregularities, allowing line operators and managers to rapidly address issues that can affect production integrity.
Comprehensive setups can fetch details like product expiry dates, available stock, and overstocked items. These units are part of the IoT and can even identify and categorize food products based on how fast they rot.
Sensor technologies like this can help manufacturers make critical decisions regarding what raw material to stock in moderate quantities, how to increase marketing efforts to clear inventory, and more. Best of all: they don't have to wait forever to make these production-defining decisions because they have systems that provide real-time monitoring and data feedback.
3. Volume Measurement
Computer vision systems can provide image data on fill levels, for example, during the production of beverages such as beer and soda. Part of product quality is ensuring bottles or other primary containers contain the correct volume or fill levels of drinks.
KEYENCE offers different lines of measurement sensors for the food and beverage industry and sensors to reduce industrial waste. Our solutions can be used to accurately inspect for correct fill levels to ensure product integrity.
Volume measurement requires collecting data on a target’s length, width, and height. A 3D inspection and measurement sensor can help capture a 3D profile of the target in question. The objective for this measurement task could be to check for cartons' structural integrity, product counts in packaging, checks for cracks or other defects, or the presence of foreign objects. These inspection efforts can help food companies reduce industrial waste.
4. Product Consistency
For a few hundred food items, achieving consistency regarding the shape, size, texture, color, and other physical parameters of food items and their packaging may not be an issue. Consistency, however, becomes a real challenge in high-scale, fast-moving production lines.
Food sensors help monitor texture and coloring uniformity across batches of products, for example, in dough-making factories. Inconsistencies in texture exposed by food sensors can help line managers or operators put a finger on the root cause of inconsistency. It may be that the right amount of additive didn’t enter the mixing tank in the mixing stage or maybe temperature control is the issue.
Whatever the issue or contributing factor may be, stakeholders can make intervention-enabling decisions to correct the situation and prevent further waste.
5. Improved Quality Control
Consumers are very particular about food items and wouldn't hesitate to initiate returns or start patronizing competition if they feel their tastes and preferences are not being met.
Automatic food inspection sensors help ensure quality throughout the manufacturing process, from measurement and mixing to packaging and assembly. By identifying potential issues early, these sensors reduce the likelihood of product returns and recalls.
Efforts to rework affected batches cost money, leading to a waste of financial resources. Affected products may be unsalvageable, so they turn to waste and go to landfill. The use of sensors to reduce industrial waste will enable food packaging manufacturing to improve product quality and help lessen waste in all areas.
6. Efficient Resource Utilization
In today's fast-changing business landscape, food manufacturers must optimize their resources to stay competitive.
Automated food packaging powered by sensors helps companies to streamline production processes, reduce labor costs and cut back on waste. By driving down costs, manufacturers can increase revenue and optimize their manufacturing process.
7. Enhanced Traceability
Food companies must have a strong traceability program so they can better track and trace food items and products throughout the supply chain, right from product sourcing to market product delivery. Enhanced traceability programs help reduce food waste in manufacturing.
Part of a well-structured traceability program is understanding the origin and movement of ingredients. If raw materials are getting rotten or damaged faster than they should under normal circumstances, sensor-based systems can help manufacturers determine if they should stop warehousing ingredients in a certain storage facility or improve the storage conditions.
8. Reduction in False Rejects
Waste in food manufacturing is not unique to preproduction preparation and processes; during inspections, waste can also happen at these critical control points due to false rejects.
Accurately detecting defects helps reduce or eliminate the number of false reject situations. Rather than discarding an entire carton containing multiple items, quality food inspection sensors can isolate only the defective products. This targeted approach reduces food waste by ensuring only the faulty items are removed from the production flow.
Advanced sensors to reduce food waste also reduce the likelihood of incorrect classifications by making precise measurements and eliminating subjective judgments associated with human inspectors. A laser profiler, for example, can accurately check the height, width, and angle data of food during production to ensure there are no deviations from the established shape and dimensions. The precision-based measurement provided by laser displacement sensors like a laser profiler helps minimize waste arising from false positives and false negatives.
KEYENCE provides a line of sensor-powered laser and vision systems for the food and beverage industry. For more information on any of these high-precision measurement and inspection solutions, contact us today.
Related Products
Applications
Dimension Measurement
- Thickness and Width Measurement
- Step Height Measurement
- Inner and Outer Diameter Measurement
- Measuring Angles
- Meandering/Edge Measurement
Displacement Measurement
- Positioning and Stroke Length Measurement
- Vibration and Runout Measurement
- Deflection Measurement
- Measuring Eccentricity