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Enhancing the common critical control points in food production lines by using artificial intelligence to process and analyse the X-ray image.
About
X-ray inspection system takes an image of each inspected product and analyzes them by comparing greyscale values within the image. These images can also be used for other purposes, e.g. in the traceability of the food production chain, but when equipping the system with Artificial Intelligence food producers can take their quality inspection to a whole new level. There are more food quality reclamations that are not related to foreign objects today than ever before. This has created a demand for maximizing the return on investment for quality control systems. Combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) with X-ray technology provides a groundbreaking way to inspect the product's form, shape, and contents which transforms traditional X-ray Critical Control Points from foreign object detection/greyscale centric systems to high-tech quality control solutions that provide tremendous additional value within each system installation. AI has a lot of use-cases where it can be utilized, and different production lines may have their own challenges and needs when it comes to the end-product. These needs and challenges can be divided into individual tasks for the AI to inspect while the standard X-ray algorithms inspect the products for any food safety hazards. For example, the AI solution can ensure that there is a correct amount of components present in a product that should have a fixed amount in each production batch. Like with any other industry, there are tremendous possibilities when combining AI technology with X-ray quality control systems. For example, verifying the desired quantities of components inside a food package, controlling product form & shape, or counting products in fixed and non-fixed positions.
Key Benefits
Combining X-ray technology with Artificial Intelligence, food producers and retailers are able to: - detect the presence or lack of presence of product components, e.g. a disposable fork in ready-to-eat meals - count the content to ensure there is a fixed amount of products within the package - recognize the product form and shape to eliminate misshaped or broken products - maximize product quality & minimize reclamations AI enables the possibility to solve even complex quality demands that food producers and retails might have.
Applications
The solution can be utilized in various food segments, such as but not limited to: - Bakery - Confectionery - Dairy - Fish & Seafood - Frozen Foods - Fruits & Vegetables - Meat - Poultry - Ready-to-Eat - Snacks Like with our X-ray inspection systems, the best results can be achieved when inspecting primary packaged food products. At this stage of the production, the products and the production flow are the most consistent which provides the best conditions for the AI to pick up any irregularities within the products.