Since 2012, Harro Höfliger has an in-house image processing department. Hartwig Sauer, Department Leader Vision Systems, tells us what the 23 employees are working on and how customers benefit from their developments.
Mr. Sauer, what do Vision Systems employees do all day?
In a nutshell, we develop camera systems for our machines. 17 application engineers develop individual camera setups for inspection and control tasks. Three employees take care of the user interface, one is responsible for the hardware and one for the machine documentation. And I, as the department leader, coordinate everything.
“Around 70 percent of our machines are equipped with cameras for quality control.”Hartwig Sauer, Department Leader Vision Systems at Harro Höfliger
Can you name a few typical fields of application for camera systems?
There are numerous fields of application. Around 70 percent of our machines are equipped with cameras for quality control. In web-processing machines, cameras often check the correct cutting and packaging of patches. During syringe assembly, for example, we can use surface inspection to detect whether there are defects such as tears or break-offs on certain parts. Another typical application is print image control. The camera checks, for instance, whether the expiration date on the product is legible. Poor print quality results in product rejection.
When developing camera solutions, the image processing department cooperates closely with Control Engineering, Mechanical Design and HMI.
Why did you bring the development of camera systems in-house a few years ago, and how do customers benefit?
All of this expertise is now pooled in-house. This means we can react much faster to customer requests. When developing camera solutions, we cooperate closely with other areas such as Control Engineering, Mechanical Design and HMI. Even feasibility studies can be carried out quickly thanks to our in-house laboratory. Here, we examine product samples with our extensive camera technology, lighting and test equipment. This is the basis for our tailor-made and individual solutions.
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Photos: Tom Philippi, Janine Kyofsky