Key Takeaways
Machine vision is an essential part of automation in manufacturing and logistics operations around the world thanks to some central components and capabilities:
- Combination of sensors, lenses, lighting, and software for precise inspection and analysis.
- AI that handles variability and makes setup and maintenance easy, as well as rule-based systems are great with consistent, high-speed tasks.
- Dedicated lighting that helps with image clarity and contrast for accurate analysis.
- Support for a wide range of applications, from defect detection to barcode reading - machine vision supports many industrial needs reliably.
What is Machine Vision?
Machine vision is an essential component of how digital systems interact with the real world. It lets automated systems see components, products, patterns, codes, or other objects and use that information to make decisions.
Since it allows manufactured parts and products to be inspected, measured, and sorted, machine vision has vastly increased the power and flexibility of industrial automation. Machine vision does all this at high speeds and high accuracy, improving product quality and reducing waste.
Machine vision also lets automated equipment locate objects, identify them, and save information about their material, condition, orientation, and other details for later analysis. That data is critical to factories looking for efficiency gains.
Machine vision lets automated systems see components, products, patterns, codes, or other objects and use that information to:
- Make decisions at high speeds and high accuracy, improving product quality and reducing waste.
- Generate data that is critical to factories looking for efficiency gains
And every package that makes its way through today’s automated logistics warehouses does so with the help of barcodes that are read by machine vision. Those codes are used to track and identify packages throughout their journeys, making sure they get to their intended destinations.
All of these activities are powered by machine vision: cameras that let computers interpret real world objects. You may also hear products in this category referred to as “computer vision,” which is a broader term and sometimes describes more theoretical research systems that analyze images. Machine vision products, on the other hand, are practical, connected to industrial automation systems in factories and warehouses.
Who uses machine vision?
Machine vision is constantly evolving, and performs an ever-growing range of tasks in two main types of organizations:
- Manufacturing facilities and factories use machine vision to automate operations throughout the manufacturing process.
- Logistics providers and warehouses use machine vision to automate routing, tracking, and shipping, typically by reading barcodes or other encoding symbols.
Manufacturing facilities and factories use machine vision to automate operations throughout the manufacturing process.
Logistics providers and warehouses use machine vision to automate routing, tracking, and shipping.
What are the benefits of machine vision?
Because it can see with better resolution, across a wider spectrum, and process tasks faster than human vision, machine vision provides a wide range of benefits:
Improve product quality
Products rejected for defects are a significant source of cost, waste, and reputational damage. Automated inspection with machine vision improves speed and accuracy, catching problems of many kinds before they’re packaged or shipped and allowing human inspectors to be reserved for an increasingly small number of difficult cases.
Trace parts and products
By reading codes on products and packages at every step from initial production to shipping to final sale, machine vision systems can provide critical tracking information. This lets shippers know their current location, quickly detect any delays or shipping errors, and trace any damage or other problem back to its source.
Increase productivity and overall equipment effectiveness
Machine vision systems speed up operations and decrease cycle times, and their performance doesn’t deteriorate over the course of a shift. They provide the information to make the most efficient use of every piece of equipment on the floor.
Reduce waste
By catching manufacturing flaws, identifying overfill, or pinpointing the causes of defects, machine vision can reduce waste and scrap rates in multiple ways. Over time, this can help control overhead and bring down raw materials costs.
Improve product quality by catching problems before they’re shipped.
Trace parts and products to provide critical tracking information.
Overcome labor shortages by automating with machine vision.
Improve safety with remote automation that minimizes workers’ interaction with potentially dangerous machinery.
Overcome labor shortages
Manufacturing is facing significant labor shortages, and the problem is expected to get worse. The work can be tiring and difficult. By automating manufacturing with machine vision, skilled labor can be reserved for higher-value activities.
Improve processes
Machine vision instantly detects changes in product quality and keeps a visual record of every step in a product lifecycle. This form of big data reveals process bottlenecks, declining machine function, and common sources of error, making continuous process improvement possible.
Ensure compliance
The machine vision-generated data and images used to make process improvement decisions also provide the data needed to comply with reporting regulations in industries like pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, food and beverage, and more.
Improve safety
With industrial automation made possible by machine vision, workers can minimize their interactions with noisy and potentially dangerous machinery. If there is an equipment problem, they can often diagnose and adjust it remotely, through the information machine vision provides.