Hardware and software development plus AI-supported image processing from a single source
“In the future, image processing solutions will shape success and competitiveness by monitoring customer-specific logistics and production processes,” says Volker Kugel, Executive Board Member for Automation Projects at Eckelmann. As a result, he set up an Innovation Unit at the company’s headquarters in Wiesbaden: The new “Vision AI” unit brings together development expertise in AI-supported image processing and has expanded its staff.
At Eckelmann, 250 engineers, computer and natural scientists work and conduct research every day to create a sustainable and connected world! With the “Vision AI” innovation unit, the full-service provider for industrial automation and digitalization has formed an additional development unit for intelligent image processing with AI. Its mission: to shape the production and processes of the future through image processing and machine vision – for example, for 24/7 quality control and error detection through visual inspection.
Cost savings for customers, traceability, and 100 percent reliability are the driving forces behind the new unit. Eckelmann is a development partner for systems and customer-internal processes in production and intralogistics: with forward-looking solutions and control systems for controlling individual systems or lines via Eckelmann FactoryWare® Solutions. Complemented by seamless material tracking for the entire warehouse management via Eckelmann FactoryWare® Logistics.
The Vision AI team conducts future-oriented trials at the test center using real customer products in order to perfect automation and significantly reduce commissioning times.
When colleagues discuss underwater drones, highly available multi-user control systems, classic car restoration, varying fault characteristics, or heavy ion and proton therapy over breakfast, guests know they are at the heart of Vision AI. With the newly founded unit, Eckelmann has established a dedicated development and research department for exciting image processing and AI topics of the future: a team of specialists from two generations of passionate development engineers has been given space for digital developments, machine vision, and deep learning in the truest sense of the word.
Today, customers from the mechanical and plant engineering, metallurgical engineering, and supply-security sectors, such as the food industry, medical technology, pharmaceutical industry, and biotechnology, are already part of our established customer base. Eckelmann FactoryWare® Solutions are established worldwide: customized control systems that are used over 1,000 times for automated processes – from product creation to shipping. These include dosing, mixing, conveying, filling, and packaging processes, which are evaluated and monitored with FactoryWare Analytics.
The establishment of the “Vision AI” unit is part of the company’s strategy: to use machine vision to anticipate and shape the needs of industries – with smart camera systems, innovative technologies, and AI software solutions. In this way, the team becomes a sparring partner for sustainable developments for target customers in (inter)national target markets.
One example of AI-supported image processing is the camera-based counting gate FactoryWare RCD S+ (Reusable Crate Detection), which is used to digitally record reusable packaging containers (RPCs) in automated logistics depots. It combines classic image processing algorithms and AI solutions. The RCD S⁺ takes just a few seconds to reliably count and record containers, compared to 20 minutes of manual work in the past.
Eckelmann was the development partner for washing depots, contributing its unique visualization expertise: Upon arrival, the reusable containers stacked on pallets are fed into the RCD S⁺, where they are recorded, identified, counted, and the results made available to the logistics depot for billing its customers. Eckelmann systems are now in use in 32 washing centers in 17 countries across Europe, with two more on the Asian continent – and rollout in North America is currently underway!