• Success Story

      Omron’s open connectivity solves tricky potato packaging problem

      Greenvale is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of fresh potatoes. Until recently, it had a packaging problem: the wrong labels were used too often. The solution to use an Omron vision system to check seemed clear. However, if the operator loaded the wrong kind of label in the first place, he would probably enter that label type into the control system -- leaving the error to go unnoticed.

    Analysis by Omron found that when a new order is set up on the packaging line, Greenvale’s ERP system can download all of the order data as a CSV file. All that was needed was to find a way of making this data available to the vision system. For most automation suppliers, this way would have involved expensive software. But not for Omron’s CJ1 PLCs, which can communicate with external computers.

    “Omron understood our requirements and did their utmost to meet them. Omron will be my first point of call on any future projects of this nature," says Andrew Kwa, Greenvale’s Operations Analyst.

    The monitoring system is now operational and fully meets expectations. “Right from the start, Omron could not have been more helpful and responsive," Kwa said.

    To read the full success story, please download the PDF below.