Vision again the star at Manufacturing Week

Reports on the exhibits and exhibitors at Manufacturing Week, which took place at the NEC, 10‐12 November 1998. It reveals that machine vision is the major attraction at the show with over a quarter of the exhibitors exhibiting activity in this area. A number of the companies who offer turnkey systems are highlighted; some include vision as an element in their systems while others are totally dedicated to application of the technology. The emphasis in the article is on applications with the predominance being for inspection. Brief case studies are given of inspecting automotive switches, a contact lens line, robot grinding of propellers and a seat belt retractor assembly system. Some new products are also described including a “control free” junction for Bosch twin belt pallet conveyors and compact fast camera with integral image acquisition and processing electronics.