Gerhard Schubert GmbH can look back on four decades of technological innovation in the field of image processing. The portfolio is constantly being expanded: 2D and 3D scanners are to be supplemented in future by an even more compact solution that combines both technologies.
Image processing technology from Schubert is an integral part of efficient quality assurance: This is ensured by versatile scanners that Schubert has continuously optimised and developed over 40 years. so far in around 1,000 packaging machines integrated worldwide.
„Schubert scanners are standard equipment on pick-and-place packing lines. Our solutions therefore make a decisive contribution to product quality and safety in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and animal feed industries.“
Daniel Greb, Head of Image Processing at Schubert
While 2D incident light scanners enable efficient colour and surface inspection, 3D scanners also check the height of stacked products, for example. The camera-based control aids record the shape, dimensions and other parameters of different products within the packaging line.
The company has now added a structurally more compact solution to the two established variants. The new tracking scanner integrates the functions of 2D and 3D scanners - as a multifunctional tool for product recognition, so to speak. The detection of product position and quality continues to take centre stage - with one significant difference. „Instead of producing scanners of different sizes as before, we are working on a 600 millimetre wide standard module“, explains Greb. Maintenance and cleaning will also be much easier. „We want to significantly extend our lead in the field of image processing“.
A pioneering cooperation
This pioneering work, which had a significant impact on the packaging industry, began with a Cooperation with the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre In the mid-eighties. Schubert's global success in image processing can be traced back to the idea of two visionary scientists, whom Schubert brought from Karlsruhe to Crailsheim in the mid-1980s. With Dr Abdelmalek Nasraoui and Dr Josef Pecht, Gerhard Schubert GmbH gained two experts who co-founded modern image processing and further developed at Schubert. What began with the Pattern Considering System (Pacos) developed into ever faster, ever more precise solutions: When packing small parts, Pacos recognised disordered objects on the product conveyor - ideal for pick-and-place applications, which Schubert has perfected over the decades.
At the end of the 1980s, line sensors brought about a decisive change: Unlike cameras, they are Less susceptible to optical effects and record the entire product flow. From then on, Schubert integrated them into the first scanners, of which the company developed several variants - right up to the well-known solutions that are used worldwide today.
SourceSchubert
