AMETEK Surface Vision has helped Metsä Board meet its customers’ quality expectations, through its mill in Husum, Sweden.
The company wanted to minimise or eliminate quality claims on board from the Husum mill, ensuring that all product leaving the factory was 100% inspected, thereby consistently meeting customer satisfaction requirements. Defects in the polyethylene (PE) coating process were critical, as a significant amount of the final product was used for cups, plates, and food packaging. It was vital that the board was 100% defect-free and resistant to grease and water.
However, inspection on this coating line was particularly challenging, as it required high-resolution detection on both surfaces, the glossy topside and the matte underside. Low and high angle detection was also required to detect small spots, dents, streaks, and coating problems. Ametek provided a SmartView® 7 Inspection System, based on high-resolution line-scan cameras, positioned to inspect both sides of the board in synchronised brightfield and darkfield arrangement. This detected subtle defects in the coating process at an early stage, allowing action to be taken immediately to avoid scrap material. The detection of repeating defects also helped to rapidly identify the cause, allowing any issues to be remedied quickly.
In 2021, a 20-camera SmartAdvisor® system will be installed and Metsä Board’s Web Inspection System will be upgraded to SmartView 8.
