Machine-vision quality inspection
Catch every defect at line speed.
A camera and edge computer that learn your good parts in an afternoon and reject bad ones before they ship. For packaging, food and beverage, electronics, plastic and metal parts, and pharma secondary packaging.
Pre-launch. Paid 4-week pilot on one line, from $4,900.
Pilot unit · target specification
- per frame
- <25ms
- parts per camera, upper limit
- 600/min
- good samples to start
- ~50
- no internet needed to run
- Offline
- enclosure
- IP65
Targets for the pilot unit, not guarantees. Catch rate and false-reject rate are measured on your parts during the pilot.
How it works
Four steps from bare conveyor to live reject.
One camera station per inspection point. Most of the work is optics and lighting, so we do that first and teach the model second.
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Mount & light
Fix the camera, lens and light over the conveyor. We pick the working distance and lighting angle for the defect you need to see, then lock the geometry.
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Teach with good samples
Run about 50 good parts past the camera. The unit learns what normal looks like. No defect library needed to begin.
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Set rules & tolerances
Choose which defect types reject, how strict each one is, and what happens on a fault. Saved as a recipe per product.
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Connect the gate & go live
Wire the reject output to your PLC and gate. Every reject is logged with its image; the shift dashboard shows counts as they happen.
What it catches
Eight defect classes. One station can cover several.
Which classes are practical on your product depends on part size, surface and lighting. The line assessment tells you before you pay for a pilot.
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Scratches & scuffs
Surface marks on metal, plastic, glass and printed film.
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Dents & deformation
Crushed edges, bent pins, out-of-round shapes.
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Missing or misplaced parts
Absent, rotated or shifted components and inserts.
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Label & barcode
Misprints, smudges, skew, and barcode legibility.
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Fill level
Under- and over-fill in clear and translucent containers.
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Cap & seal integrity
Cocked or missing caps, lifted foil, broken tamper bands.
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Colour deviation
Shade drift against the taught reference, per recipe.
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Foreign particles
Specks, fibres and debris on or inside the product area.
Industries
Built for discrete parts on a moving line.
Typical checks per sector. Your list will differ; the assessment is where we settle it.
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Packaging
Carton print and registration, flap closure, missing inserts, label position, date and lot code presence.
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Food & beverage
Cap and seal checks, fill level, label skew, pack contents count, foreign particles on open product.
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Electronics
PCB component presence and polarity, solder bridges, connector pin position, marking legibility.
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Plastic & metal parts
Surface scratches, flash and short shots, burrs, missing holes, thread and edge damage.
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Pharma secondary packaging
Carton and leaflet presence, blister completeness, batch and expiry print legibility, 2D code readability.
Specktech is not a certified medical or pharmaceutical validation system. If you need validated inspection, tell us during the assessment and we will say what we can and cannot support.
Deployment & integration
Runs on your floor. Talks to your PLC.
Everything below is part of the pilot unit design. Interfaces are confirmed per site during the assessment.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Compute | On-prem edge unit mounted at the line. No cloud inference. |
| Connectivity | Offline-first. Runs with no internet connection. |
| Control I/O | Digital I/O for reject output, ready and fault signals, and encoder or trigger input. |
| Industrial protocols | Modbus TCP, OPC UA, MQTT. |
| Reporting | MES-friendly CSV export of results and reject events. |
| Image storage | Reject images and logs kept on the unit and your network. |
| Access control | Role-based access: operator, supervisor, administrator. |
| Operator interface | Touchscreen UI for run, review rejects and shift dashboard. |
| Changeovers | Product recipes: camera, light, tolerances and rules stored per product. |
| Enclosure | IP65 target for the pilot unit. |
Pilot program
Four weeks on one line. Numbers from your parts.
Specktech is pre-launch, so we do not ask you to take our word for anything. The pilot is how you check.
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Week 1
Line assessment
Site visit or remote review of the line, parts and defects. We confirm what is feasible, collect samples and agree what counts as a defect.
Deliverable: written scope and inspection plan.
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Week 2
Install
Mount camera, light and edge unit. Wire encoder and reject output. Teach the first recipe from good samples.
Deliverable: unit running on the line in monitor mode.
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Week 3
Tuning
Run live, review every flagged part with your quality team, adjust tolerances, then switch reject on.
Deliverable: tuned recipe and live reject.
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Week 4
Report
Seeded and real defects are checked against the unit's decisions over the full run.
Deliverable: report with catch rate and false-reject rate measured on your parts.
How many samples does it need to start?
About 50 good parts. The unit builds a model of what normal looks like from those images, so you do not need to collect defect examples first. If a defect is rare or subtle, we add labelled reject samples during pilot tuning.
What happens when we change product?
Each product is a recipe: camera settings, lighting, tolerances and reject rules stored together. Operators pick the recipe on the touchscreen at changeover. A new product needs its own teach pass of about 50 good samples.
How do you deal with false rejects?
Every reject is logged with its image, score and timestamp so you can review it. Tolerances are adjustable per defect type. The pilot report states the false-reject rate measured on your line, and we tune against it before the report is issued.
Does it work in poor or changing light?
Inspection quality depends mostly on controlled lighting, so each station has its own light and, where needed, a shroud against ambient light. We assess ambient light, glare and part reflectivity during the line assessment.
Can we use our existing cameras?
Sometimes. If your cameras are GigE Vision or USB3 Vision and the optics and resolution suit the defect size, we can evaluate them. For the pilot we normally supply our own camera, lens and lighting so results are repeatable.
What maintenance does a station need?
Clean the lens and light window on your normal cleaning schedule and check the mount after line maintenance. The unit does not need internet access to run. Software updates are delivered by us and applied on site, on your schedule.
Who owns the images and data?
You do. Images, logs and recipes stay on the unit and your network. We do not copy them to our servers. If you want us to review images for tuning, you export and send them, and we delete them when the work is done.
Is Specktech proven in production?
Specktech is pre-launch. That is why the first step is a paid pilot on one line, with catch-rate and false-reject numbers measured on your parts. You decide on year one from those numbers.
Contact
Book a line assessment.
Tell us about the line and what you need to catch. We reply by email, usually within two working days, with questions or a proposed time.
Or write directly: sales@specktech.site