Vision Inspection Technologies Commonly Used in Pharmaceutical and Food Production

A set of standards, such as the safety of packages, the compatibility of cosmetics, and the content of informative texts for the end-user, are followed in the pharmaceutical and food industry production process. In this article, it is explained that how you can use vision inspection technologies to adapt to standards and increase overall quality. A vision inspection project, whose requirements are accurately analyzed and designed will undoubtedly, play a key role in ensuring customer satisfaction and brand reliability.

Control of Printing with OCR and OCV

Many industries regulate the information on products to protect the health of the end-user. Expiry date, usage, and allergy warnings are the most popular of this information. Minor technical problems that may occur in the machine or printer that prints this information may cause misinterpretation of the information by the end-user. The health of a person who consumes the drug or food is very likely to be harmed as a result of incorrect expiration dates or allergen warnings. For this reason, it is crucial to control the information printed on the products or their packaging in order not to endanger public health. This control is performed using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and OCV (Optical Character Verification) technology in production lines. When these technologies are combined with a high-speed camera and automation systems, products with incorrect information are automatically rejected from the production line, and public health is protected. Activities that will enable the consumer to read the expiration date and usage warnings correctly will undoubtedly increase the total quality.

For a successful OCR/OCV process, the print to be made must first be designed in accordance with OCR/OCV technology. While making this design, it is necessary to consider parameters such as the width and height of the print, the character spacing, and the contrast value. Where and how this information is to be printed on products manufactured by the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industry is defined by GMP rules. You can be informed by the GMP guidelines of the industry you are interested in.

OCR/OCV Application in Pharmaceutical

The pharmaceutical industry, which is a mixed packaging process, benefits OCR/OCV technology in almost every level of packaging. Due to the different qualities of the packages at the levels, it is necessary to use different image processing technologies and techniques in applications. Especially the reflection and gloss problems of materials such as aluminum and transparent film make the application unstable. With its products on inspection, VISIOTT produces effective and stable solutions to OCR/OCV problems in all materials in the pharmaceutical industry. For more detailed information, please contact our sales team.

OCR/OCV applications commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry are listed below.

OCR/OCV Implementations in Food Production

The industry with the most variety of packaging is certainly the food industry. For this reason, different methods are used to implement information such as expiration date, production date, and a lot to the packaging. Hot printing, continuous inkjet (CIJ), and Thermal Transfer are the most commonly used methods for printing on packaging in the food industry.

The surfaces of packaging used in food products are glossy. For this reason, the right choice of equipment used for image processing and illumination is vital for a stable OCR/OCV implementation. If possible, adapting the area to be printed on the packaging to vision inspection technologies will reduce implementation costs.

If you want to meet VISIOTT’s OCR/OCV technologies for all kinds of packaging and process, please contact our sales team.

Pharmacode Analysis and Identification

As its name indicates, the pharma code is usually used by the pharmaceutical industry. During the production of a drug, the correct blister, prospectus, carton, and label can be controlled using pharma code in the entire production process. This control requirement is that errors and confusion that can be made in packaging involve irreversible public health risks. For example, placing a specific drug A to hypertension in a carton of a different B drug on the market cannot be detected by the patient and the pharmacy, and this error made by the manufacturer will cause damage to patients taking drug B, as well as the inability to treat it.

Laser or camera-based systems are used for pharma code control in equipment used in pharmaceutical production. These systems segment thick and thin lines, then convert these lines to numerical values using binary arithmetic. Standards should be considered when creating thick and thin line combinations for packaging. Increasing or reducing lines by distorting the proportion will cause image processing algorithms to produce incorrect results. In addition, the close design of the area where pharma code is implemented with OCR/OCV areas will allow both reading operations to be performed together.

As a result, the same pharma code must be applied to materials such as cartons, aluminum foil, prospectus, and labels for each form of the drug to control that the packaging consists of the correct units. During the production process, the line must be stopped or the reject mechanism must be triggered by controlling this pharma code. In scenarios where pharma code cannot be read, the rejection must be performed, and when there is a certain number of consecutive rejections, the line must be stopped.

Presence/Absence Controls by Vision Inspection

One of the implementation areas of vision inspection technologies is presence/absence controls. This technology is often used to detect products that are on or inside a package. The detection of the missing or damaged tablet in the blister; whether there are missing parts of the mechanisms of drugs applied with a special kit is controlled with these systems.

Many pharmaceutical professionals are undecided between inspection and checkweigher technologies when controlling for presence/absence. Both technologies can be used to control the smallest units that form a drug. Conventional checkweigher systems are systems that can measure with an accuracy of 0.1 g and operate within a small standard deviation according to ambient conditions. It can easily determine whether a prospectus with a weight of 1.5 g or a blister with a weight of 10 g is in the box. However, it cannot detect the presence or absence of the nozzle located at the tip of the spray mechanism. In fact, the decision is simple.

Below is an example of vision inspection that controls the presence of a tablet in the blister inside a carton.

Level Control for Liquid and Sterilized Drugs

Measurement of filling levels before packaging pharmaceutical products, especially in liquid form, improves overall product quality. The drugs whose filling level is different from normal can be easily rejected from the production line by an inspection system that is suitable for bottles with transparent or amber color. In this way, it is guaranteed that the liquid drug is included in the bottle at the recommended dose for the patient by the doctor.

Please contact our sales team to discuss your projects with VISIOTT’s inspection technology experts.