100% quality control and greater efficiency in the production process for coated and printed metal packaging

Metal packaging places particularly high demands on inspection. State-of-the-art inspection solutions for metal printing by experienced partners are the only way to increase production performance. ISRA VISION, the world’s leading supplier of surface inspection systems, has now added additional functionalities to its two proven inspection solutions: CoatSTAR, the system for 100% inspection of coated sheets before printing and at the backside of the sheet; and DecoSTAR, the system for 100% printing inspection of metal sheet decorations. The new features ensure even greater production efficiency.

Specialized manufacturing of metal packaging presents complex challenges during the production process. In addition to time-consuming machinery setup, these include multiple production runs for each decorated sheet, short application processes and delivery times. The raw material is expensive. Moreover, the metal decoration is subject to the toughest quality standards.

Automated print and coating inspection systems from ISRA VISION allow all quality requirements to be met and all users to meet their objectives. They benefit from 100% inspected printed and coated sheets and maximum process efficiency.

Additional optimization for Coating inspection

CoatSTAR is used to inspect coated metal sheets and guarantees faster processing due to 100% defect-free material use from the preparation to the final result. Having proven its effectiveness time and again, the system now has two valuable new functions.

Using Flipped-Sheet-Detection, the inspection system detects if a metal sheet has been accidentally flipped over during processing so that the uncoated side faces upwards. This would lead to defective production later in the process. Thanks to the new function, the inspection system detects this potential defect at an early stage, so that incorrect further processing can be ruled out and resources saved.

Advanced-Sheet-Movement-Compensation is a new algorithm that can exclude false defects that were previously highlighted during the inspection. These occur due to the movement of the metal sheets, as the speed of production on the conveyor belts sometimes causes the sheets to slightly bend. This bending can cause the inspection to send false alarms. However, as the movements are due to production, being able to ignore them is an advantage. The new algorithm reliably detects these false errors so that they can be ignored. This significantly enhances the production efficiency and eliminates false alarms caused by sheet impurity.

Additional increase in production efficiency in metal printing

The DecoSTAR inline inspection system ensures perfect printing quality on the metal sheets and minimizes print waste. This system has now been equipped with two valuable new functions as well. The first, Auto-Detect-Color-Bars, allows the color bars to be detected automatically. The feature places measurement points automatically and guarantees reliable color monitoring in production printing from the very first sheet. If required, this functionality can also be used during the setup process. Today, color monitoring during setup requires offline measurement processes and, therefore, the setup time to be significantly reduced if done online. Color fidelity across the entire batch is also improved.

The second new function, PDF-Comparison, allows the printed image to be compared to a reference PDF document. Here the challenge lies in very similar motifs, such as identical images or logos with different serial numbers or identical motifs with different service contact details for specific regions. Previously, defective production could occur when very similar motifs were printed, as the printed plates were not exchanged as required. PDF-Comparison allows this process to be steered in a targeted way, thereby noticeably reducing errors in the metal sheet production.

Summary
The new functions of the CoatSTAR and DecoSTAR inspection solutions significantly increase the efficiency of the production process for coated and printed metal packaging. This ensures that the systems pay for themselves even sooner, while users strengthen their company’s market position and secure a crucial competitive advantage. Moreover, the systems conserve resources and make a key contribution to the sustainability of production.