The challenge
The manufacturer processes large volumes of bacon and pork products daily for both its own brand and private label — products that are delivered to national and international customers with strict requirements regarding size and consistency. Pork products and bacon casings naturally vary significantly in length, width, and height. Those dimensions directly determine a product’s class and, with that, its destination, price, and cutting strategy. Every millimeter of variation in casing thickness directly impacts margins.
Until the arrival of the Vision Partners system, that assessment was done manually: a labor-intensive process that was highly dependent on the employee’s experience. The inconsistencies that resulted had multiple consequences: higher machine processing downtime, the inability to optimize cutting programs based on current data, and growing pressure from retailers and foodservice customers who imposed increasingly strict specifications. Deviations in that context directly lead to returns or discounts. Additionally, there was no objective measurement of product-specific parameters, which made traceability for quality certification (BRC/IFS) more difficult.
The customer was looking for a solution that objectively and reproducibly measures 100% of the production, without line stops and without additional operators — and that transmits the classification result directly to the PLC for automatic sorting.
The solution
Vision Partners developed an inspection machine, entirely made of stainless steel (SS) and suitable for wet and cold production environments in the meat processing industry. The system was delivered turnkey and put into operation on site.
The heart of the system consists of two industrial 3D Time-of-Flight cameras that together form a combined three-dimensional image of each bacon product moving across the conveyor belt. Through 3D point-cloud software, length, width, and height are automatically determined with an accuracy of ±2.5 mm at both height and width, at a processing speed of up to 25 products per minute. The height is measured at both ends of the product, with the shoulder side (highest value) being the determining factor for classification. The width measurement works based on a trimmed average over the entire middle section, ensuring that outliers have no impact on the final result.
The system consists of:
- 2× industrial 3D Time-of-Flight cameras — together form a complete 3D image per bacon
- Separate color display — displays a number and corresponding color after each measurement indicating the classification result
- PLC integration — the classification result is immediately passed on to the higher-level PLC, which automatically sends the product to the appropriate output conveyor
- Touchscreen user interface — for product selection, batch number entry, and live measurement display
- Solidly mounted stainless steel frame — robust and hygienically integrated into the production line
- Data logging — automatic logging of all measurement data, optionally available as a CSV export via shared directory
The classification classes and limits are fully configurable via the interface, so the system can be easily adapted to product changes or customer specifications.
This solution builds on Vision Partners’ strong technical foundation. As MVTec HALCON integrator — the leading industrial imaging software — and distributor of leading machine vision brands such as LED2WORK, TPL Vision and Hikrobot, Vision Partners combines proven software, cameras and top-quality lighting with in-house engineering to deliver reliable, customized 3D inspection systems.
The result
The automated classification system accurately measures and classifies bacon based on length, width, and height at a high processing speed. Immediately after measurement, the system sends the classification result to the higher-level PLC, which automatically guides the product to the appropriate output conveyor. Manual intervention is no longer necessary: the entire measurement-to-sorting process is fully automated.
By linking batch numbers to measurement data, the classification results can be directly related to cutting yields, providing valuable control information for the production process.
Vision Partners provided the full turn-key delivery including installation, commissioning, on-site validation, service & maintenance, and user documentation.
“Thanks to this system, we now classify our pork products completely automatically and individually. What used to be manual and time-consuming is now running flawlessly and without any downtime. The integration into our existing line was easier than expected.”
— Production manager, Dutch meat processor
Want to know more about automatic product classification in meat processing? Contact us via www.visionpartners.nl/contact.
