Scanning Devices Inc.Sensors, Instruments and Controls | 111 Terrace Hall Avenue
Burlington, Massachusetts (USA) 01803 1-781-272-5135 FAX: 1-781-272-4856 Email us: mail@scanningdevices.com |
(Or, how do they... Inspect products using Barcodes)
In automatic assembly operations, component parts are delivered to assembly stations by automatic means; conveyors, robotics, vibratory feeders, gravity feeders, etc. Most are untouched by human hands in the delivery process. When they arrive at the rendezvous point, components are combined with others in some manner, also automatically. This makes for a high degree of efficiency and speed, as long as the components are the right ones!
Errors can be catastrophic. Make the wrong parts, jam the mechanism, shutdown the line. Or worse yet, assemble a finished product with the wrong component part and not even realize it!
In order to prevent these situations, manufacturers have turned to barcoding -The Scanning Devices Target Barcode System.
Barcodes are affixed to components either via labels or direct printing. When the components are delivered to the assembly point, they pass a barcode reader. The barcode reader is driven by a Scanning Device Micro700 Controller, which is loaded with the barcode expected at that station. Each arriving item is detected by a sensor which instructs the barcode to read and transmit data to the Micro700. Data is compared with the expected barcode to detect errors.
An error may be a wrong code - the component at the assembly point is the wrong part number. Or the error may be an unreadable code - the Target Barcode system could not find the barcode on the item. The item may be the correct one, but the barcode is not printed correctly, the item is not oriented properly so that the barcode is not visible from the scanner.
But in any case, an error has been detected. Error resolution depends on specifics of the installation: reject the erroneous item and feed the next one automatically; alert an operator; stop the operation...
But the result is the same. Find the error and correct it early in the process before the operation occurs!
When the automatic assembly operation is in pharmaceutical packaging for example, inserting instruction leaflets in drug packages, the operation becomes critical. At rates of hundreds of packages per minute, manual inspection is not practical. Barcode readers and sensors perform at these rates. If a leaflet being automatically inserted into a package must be scanned and the leaflet's barcode validated before the package can be closed and shipped.
Scanning Devices Target Barcode Systems are applied in this way. Target Systems are available in several models, ranging from one to sixteen barcode readers.
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