(Cognex: Natick, MA) -- Few industrial sectors have such stringent quality requirements as the pharmaceutical industry. To meet these exacting specifications, companies are increasingly utilizing intelligent vision systems.

For more than 30 years, EISAI Machinery GmbH, located in Cologne, Germany, has been an expert in the field of high-speed pharmaceutical product testing. Its latest device, the AIM 596, can inspect delicate glass vials in fractions of a second, thanks to two Cognex In-Sight vision systems.

Depending on the application and customer requirements, the machine can check approximately 6,000 packages; and in its fastest version, the device, with its imposing inspection towers and star wheels, can even test up to 12,000 test units per hour.

A careful gaze

In the first inspection step, the vision system, In-Sight 5600 determines the cake height of the freeze-dried contents and detects the presence of any foreign objects on their surface. At the same time, it looks for “splashings” or splatters caused by unwanted boiling during the freeze-drying process.

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