How to automate quality control and increase throughput

Machine vision for the food & beverage industry

Food and beverage production is highly competitive, fast-paced, and driven by changing consumer trends. To ensure consistent quality, competitive prices, and efficient processes, manufacturers increasingly rely on machine vision technology.

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INSPECTION, SORTING & TRACEABILITY

Optimizing processes along the value chain

Machine vision is a key technology for food & beverage production in Industry 4.0 environments. MVTec software enables automated detection, inspection, and identification across the value chain – from harvesting and processing to quality assurance and packaging – supporting tasks such as high-speed sorting, robotic cutting and portioning, hyperspectral contamination detection, packaging and label verification, and end-to-end traceability. This results in integrated workflows, higher productivity, reliable quality, and the flexibility to adapt to changing market demands.

APPLICATION EXAMPLES

Advanced Quality Control

In food and beverage manufacturing, deviations from defined quality standards are common. MVTec’s machine vision software can detect defects and evaluate multiple quality characteristics with high precision, making automated inspection processes both reliable and efficient.

completeness checks of cheese packages with machine vision software
Completeness check of cheese packages with MVTec software.
quality control of bread with machine vision software
Quality control of bread with MVTec software.

OUR SOFTWARE CONTAINS MANY RELEVANT METHODS

Proven Technologies

Bar code / 2D code reading
Completeness inspection
Matching
OCR (optical character recognition)
Position detection (2D/3D)
Print inspection
3D vision

 

 More about our technologies

defect detection in a hazelnut with machine vision
Defect detection in a hazelnut.
QR code detection on retail packaging wit machine vision software
QR code detection on retail packaging.
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APPLICATIONS IN PRACTICE

Our success stories in food & beverage

MVTec HALCON product icon
Warehouse where cheese wheels age during the ripening process
Revolutionizing Cheese Production with AI and Machine Vision
The food industry is experiencing a transformative shift in quality control, due in part to advances in artificial intelligence (AI). When combined with rule-based machine vision, AI is enabling automation of processes that were previously impossible…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Robotics
Anomaly Detection
Deep Learning
MVTec HALCON product icon
Aluminum bottles on a production line identified by OCR using machine vision for automated quality control.
Empty bottle? Not with Deep OCR
To identify products quickly and reliably, even in difficult circumstances, machine vision has proven its worth. The company Visione Artificiale also relies on machine vision for its system to trace aluminum bottles during production. Within this sys…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
OCR
MVTec HALCON product icon
Operating personnel using the PackCheck machine vision solution for quality control in food packaging production.
Machine vision for every taste
The Dutch company PackCheck BV ensures packaging quality in the food industry with a modular solution. Part of the solution is the machine vision software HALCON from MVTec Software GmbH. This enables the company to increase the efficiency of packagi…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Bar Code & 2D Code Reading
Blob Analysis
Matching
OCR
MVTec HALCON product icon
Fully automated packaging inspection system using machine vision for inline quality control in food packaging.
Deep learning detects defects in the food industry
Automation specialist INNDEO has developed a sophisticated automation solution for quality control in the packaging industry. Thanks to machine vision and deep learning technologies, high speeds and defect detection rates are no longer a problem.
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Deep Learning
OCR
MVTec HALCON product icon
Bottle caps inspected by machine vision to verify print quality in beverage production.
Beverage industry: HALCON reliably checks bottle cap imprints
Machine vision offers enormous advantages for quality control applications. High accuracy and speed as well as high flexibility and availability are important for practical use. K&S Anlagenbau GmbH has implemented such an application for the beverage…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Blob Analysis
Calibration
Matching
MVTec MERLIC product icon
Accurate eyes for the robot – automation in the food industry
Anlagenbau Habeck GmbH & Co. KG has developed a robot-based pick and place machine for the food industry based on machine vision. Thanks to the MERLIC machine vision software from MVTec Software GmbH, the robot reliably picks up unsorted objects of t…
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MERLIC
Robotics
Food & Beverage
Classification
Matching
MVTec MERLIC product icon
Classification heatmap generated by MERLIC 5 highlighting defect areas on toast packaging using deep learning.
How MERLIC 5 simply optimizes quality control in the food industry
Using MVTec MERLIC 5 with deep learning, an Integration Partner built an automated inspection system for toast packaging. Two cameras detect missing clips or misaligned wrapping, and MERLIC automatically classifies and rejects defective items — reduc…
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MERLIC
Food & Beverage
Packaging & Logistics
Classification
Deep Learning
MVTec HALCON product icon
Automated inspection device using machine vision to analyze rice grains for quality assessment.
Fast and performant inspection of rice grains with HALCON Embedded
The Japanese company Kett Electric Laboratory researches, develops and sells agricultural measuring devices, among other things. For a company that offers rice, they developed an automated inspection system for rice grains in cooperation with LINX Co…
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HALCON
Agriculture
Food & Beverage
Calibration
Classification
Embedded Vision
Inspection
Semantic Segmentation
MVTec HALCON product icon
Automatic gas cylinder re-test line powered by HALCON
The Swiss Safety Center AG, a MVTec Certified Integration Partner, is a member of the SVTI Group and thus part of a center of excellence in technical safety and risk management. They offer a comprehensive portfolio of services for industry, retail an…
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HALCON
Agriculture
Food & Beverage
Blob Analysis
Inspection
OCR
MVTec HALCON product icon
Highest level of quality control thanks to HALCON's deep learning
Robotics & Vision Technologies (RVT) developed an automated quality control system for a Spanish frozen dough and bakery manufacturer using MVTec HALCON. Up to 140 products per minute are inspected in 2D and 3D and classified with deep learning, enab…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Classification
Deep Learning
MVTec HALCON product icon
Object detection of ripe sweet peppers using MVTec HALCON with color- and shape-based analysis from RGB-D camera data.
The sweet pepper robot SWEEPER detects and picks ripe crops using MVTec HALCON
The Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands developed a greenhouse harvesting robot, which is able to pick ripe crops. The shape- and color-based detection algorithm for this task was implemented using MVTec HALCON.
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HALCON
Robotics
Agriculture
Food & Beverage
3D Vision
Classification
Matching
MVTec HALCON product icon
Margarine packages transported on a conveyor system during food production.
Machine vision validates printed text – PHILRO Industrial Ltd.
PHILRO Industrial Ltd. uses a vision-based inspection system with MVTec HALCON to detect printing errors on margarine packaging and automatically remove defective products. Basler cameras and sensors check text lines for readability and completeness.
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Alignment
Blob Analysis
Filtering
Matching
Morphology
OCR
MVTec HALCON product icon
Machine vision checks ice cream – PHILRO Industrial Ltd.
PHILRO Industrial Ltd. developed a vision-based inspection system using MVTec HALCON to check ice cream products for shape defects, breakages, or incomplete pieces. The system enables rapid identification and removal of defective products directly on…
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HALCON
Industries
Food & Beverage
Blob Analysis
Morphology
MVTec HALCON product icon
Vision Automates Jar Inspection - Adbro Controls Ltd.
Adbro Controls Ltd. uses an automated vision system with five cameras and MVTec HALCON to inspect jars on conveyor belts for labels, seals, and expiry codes. Defective products are automatically rejected.
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Packaging & Logistics
Matching
MVTec HALCON product icon
Vision system sorts tomato seedlings - University of Wageningen
The University of Wageningen’s system automates the sorting of tomato seedlings at a rate of up to 18,000 plants per hour. Using ten cameras and 3D modelling, the biomass of each seedling is calculated and classified into quality categories automatic…
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HALCON
Agriculture
Food & Beverage
3D Vision
Calibration
MVTec HALCON product icon
Biscuits arranged on a conveyor belt for automated size and dimension inspection using machine vision.
Machine Vision Inspects Biscuits – Machine Vision Technology Ltd.
Machine Vision Technology Ltd. developed an automated system for size and weight control for a leading biscuit manufacturer. Using MVTec HALCON, 30 rows of freshly baked biscuits are measured in real-time on a conveyor belt. The system stores process…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Packaging & Logistics
3D Vision
Measuring
MVTec HALCON product icon
Wheat grains imaged for machine-vision-based quality classification showing variation in size, shape, and color.
Measuring Wheat Quality – TU Ilmenau
TU Ilmenau has developed an automated system for quality analysis of wheat samples. Using MVTec HALCON, 23 classes such as sound wheat, ergot, and foreign seeds are precisely detected. The system processes 50 g of wheat per minute, providing fast and…
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HALCON
Agriculture
Food & Beverage
Classification
MVTec HALCON product icon
Robotic apple picker mounted on a tractor using machine vision for automated fruit harvesting.
Vision System Simplifies Robotic Fruit Picking – ACRO Institute
The ACRO Institute developed a mobile apple-picking robot equipped with a camera inside the gripper and MVTec HALCON image processing software. The robot identifies ripe apples, calculates their position, and performs precise gripping movements. This…
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HALCON
Robotics
Agriculture
Food & Beverage
Packaging & Logistics
3D Vision
Classification
Filtering
Matching
Measuring
MVTec HALCON product icon
Machine vision system inspecting swing-cap bottles and labels during high-speed quality control.
Bottle Inspection with High Speed – BBull STRATEC BC 3000W
BBull TECHNOLOGY's STRATEC BC 3000W inspects up to 100,000 bottles per hour. It checks labels, expiration dates, logos, scratches, barcodes, and swing-top closures. MVTec's HALCON software processes four camera images in parallel, ensuring high speed…
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HALCON
Food & Beverage
Bar Code & 2D Code Reading
Classification
Matching
Measuring
OCR
MVTec Software