Reduce scrap, material waste, and quality deviations by reliably inspecting surfaces, coatings, and web edges at full production speed. Choose between a fully programmable vision platform or a ready-to-use solution.
Machine Vision for Web Inspection
Typical Challenges in the Recycling Industry
01
High Web Speeds and Continuous Operation
Paper, film, textile, nonwoven, and metal webs are produced at high speeds in continuous 24/7 operation. This requires uninterrupted real-time inspection.
02
Reliable Detection of the Smallest Defects
Scratches, inclusions, holes, coating defects, and other surface imperfections must be detected early to prevent scrap and material loss.
03
Challenging Materials and Surfaces
Reflective, transparent, or textured materials make reliable defect detection particularly demanding.
04
Ensuring Quality Across the Entire Web
Continuous monitoring across the full web width and production length is essential to identify quality deviations before they become costly.
Our Approaches
Two Paths to the Right Vision Solution
Depending on your integration requirements and project timeline, IMAGO offers two distinct approaches to web inspection.
Open Plattform
Flexible Vision Platform
For OEMs (web processing machine builders) and manufacturers of continuous web materials who require full control over application logic, system integration, and scalability.
- Freely programmable with the IMAGO ViewIT software framework, C++, Python, and HALCON – no black box, full control
- Multiple inspection tasks on a single device – for example surface inspection, coating inspection, and web edge monitoring.
- Portable across all IMAGO devices, with OPC UA and REST connectivity for Industry 4.0 integration
- Long-term availability, including ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) variants for serial machine production
Ready to use
Preconfigured Solution
For users with a specific inspection challenge who need fast and reliable results without extensive in-house development.
- Deep-learning inspection of visually variable parcels and logistics objects without programming using a web-based GUI
- Fast deployment with minimal lead time and a clear focus on rapid time-to-market
- Reliably detects anomalies in shape, color, and surface appearance
- Consulting and support from the experienced IMAGO engineering team – robust hardware made in Germany
Decision Guide
What Is Your Goal?
Choose the approach that best fits your project – both lead to a reliable inspection solution.
Maximum Flexibility
You develop your own inspection solutions or integrate machine vision deeply into your web processing or converting machinery.
Fast Implementation
You have a specific inspection task—such as surface inspection —and need a ready-to-use system quickly.
Differentiation
Why IMAGO for Web Inspection?
Hardware, software, and system integration work together to ensure reliable inline inspection and continuous quality control in web processing.
Open Software Framework
Freely programmable instead of a black box – full control over every inspection task on the line.
Multiple Tasks, One System
OCR, code reading, quality control, and AI inspection run on the same hardware instead of multiple systems.
Long-Term Availability
ODM variants and long product life cycles for serial machines and global rollouts.
Future-Proof Architecture
Scalable platform without vendor lock-in that grows with your requirements.
High-Speed-Vision
Hundreds of products per minute with processing power directly in the camera or box PC.
Applications
Typical Machine Vision Applications for Web Inspection
IMAGO vision systems are used in these four application areas in web inspection. This is only a small selection of what machine vision enables today.
Surface Inspection and Defect Detection
Paper, film, textile, and metal webs are continuously inspected for scratches, holes, tears, stains, and other surface defects to identify faults at an early stage.
Edge Inspection and Web Tracking
Web edges and material positions are precisely monitored to detect edge defects, lateral displacement, and deviations in web tracking.
Coating and Lamination Inspection
Coatings and laminates are inspected for bubbles, wrinkles, delamination, and other quality deviations to ensure consistent material quality.
Dimensional and Geometric Inspection
Web width, edge positions, and geometric features are continuously measured to detect dimensional deviations and ensure compliance with specified tolerances.
Technology for Demanding Web Inspection Applications
A high-performance machine vision system for web inspection must combine high production speeds with continuous quality control. Paper, film, textile, and metal webs require uninterrupted inspection across the entire web width and throughout the complete production process.
IMAGO provides the required processing power either directly inside the camera or externally in a high-performance box PC. Precise triggering, real-time I/O, and powerful line scan camera technology enable reliable inline inspection at the highest web speeds.
Surface inspection, print inspection, OCR, code reading, and web edge monitoring run simultaneously within a single system. Thanks to the open software framework, different materials, production processes, and customer-specific inspection tasks can be implemented flexibly. From traditional machine vision algorithms to GPU-accelerated AI, IMAGO always provides the right hardware platform for increasing resolutions, higher production speeds, and growing data volumes.
Product recommendations
Recommended Solutions for Web Inspection
The following systems are specifically designed for demanding web inspection applications. They combine high-speed image acquisition, continuous quality control, and flexible processing. Depending on your application, they can be fully programmed or deployed as ready-to-use solutions.
Inspect surfaces, coatings, printed images, and web edges reliably at full production speed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can even the smallest defects be detected reliably at high web speeds?
Continuous web materials are often processed at several hundred meters per minute. Machine vision systems must detect defects such as holes, inclusions, scratches, contamination, coating defects, and print defects in real time. This enables quality issues to be identified early and prevents costly scrap rolls.
How does the system handle different materials, surfaces, and product variants?
Paper, films, nonwovens, textiles, and metal surfaces differ significantly in texture, reflectivity, and appearance. Modern vision systems combine optimized illumination, line scan cameras, and AI-based algorithms to deliver stable inspection results even when materials and product variants change. This allows new products to be integrated without extensive hardware modifications.
Is the platform scalable for higher resolutions, wider webs, and future AI applications?
Increasing quality requirements demand higher resolutions, additional cameras, and more powerful inspection algorithms. An open and scalable machine vision platform enables additional line scan cameras, greater processing power, and AI-based defect detection to be integrated without fundamentally changing the existing machine architecture.
