Tirolpack GmbH is a state-of-the-art cheese cutting and packaging facility located in the heart of Tyrol and has been part of the Pinzgau Milch group since 2022. As a co-packer, they specialize in cutting, slicing and packaging hard and semi-hard cheeses for retail and the food industry. Tirolpack processes regional natural products under the premise of best quality, requiring high demands on technology, automation and employees. In line with their quality philosophy, Tirolpack deployed a SealScope® in-line seal inspection system for their flow-pack packaging line of cheese wedges.

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Tirolpack started operation in 2018 in Schlitters with the vision of having local cheese specialties packaged independently and regionally. Today, Tirolpack GmbH is one of Europe’s most modern packaging companies, with continuous investments in maintenance and modernization to ensure a consistently high level of innovation. As the company’s vision implies “Standstill is regression”, embracing the latest technology is essential to their success.

Success through quality

To ensure high quality standards, all production processes are fully monitored and documented by a comprehensive quality assurance system. The company meets the rigorous standards of IFS, along with various other industry certifications, allowing them to proudly label products with the respective quality seals.
Tirolpack operates several production lines that process cheese blocks and round loaves in a variety of sizes. In addition to traditional cut and sliced formats, the company’s advanced equipment also produces wedge-shaped pieces.
Particularly for the line where cheese with a crust of alp herbs is packaged, Tirolpack retrofitted the ULMA flow-pack line with an in-line seal inspection and monitoring system to guarantee the best seal quality.

Seal inspection for flow-packs

In fresh food packaging, such as cheese, maintaining a protective atmosphere is essential to preserving shelf life. Quality control of the seals is therefore critical to prevent leaks or open packages. This is especially true in fully automated end-of-line production, where instant, in-line seal inspection is crucial.
“Before implementing the solution, Tirolpack consulted several Engilico references in Austria to assess the capabilities of SealScope®.”, explains David Berger, Plant Manager at Tirolpack.
The innovative SealScope® system uses retrofitted sensors on the sealing bars to detect defects in the seal, such as folds, cheese, or in this case, herbs, which could lead to leaks or open packages. The system validates the seals during the sealing process, and when faults are detected, the affected cheese packages are automatically ejected from the conveyor belt by an air-blast system. These rejected products are then inspected to determine if they can be repackaged, ensuring minimal waste.” An important advantage is that SealScope® can be integrated onto most heat-sealing packaging machines, independent of machine brand.

Monitoring the packaging process
Another key feature of the SealScope® system is its ability to monitor the entire packaging process. The system collects real-time production data for each product variety, tracking metrics like the number of good versus rejected packages. By inspecting every package individually, it can identify trends, such as increasing rejection rates or deviations in seal quality, that may indicate potential issues in the packaging line. If a rising rejection rate is detected, the system can automatically pause production, allowing for proactive maintenance or adjustments to be made before the defect ratio further increases. This helps preventing the production of faulty packages and minimizes delays.
In the unlikely event support is needed, Tirolpack can rely on remote assistance through TeamViewer, allowing engineers at Engilico’s headquarters to access and control the SealScope® system. This enables fast troubleshooting and interaction, avoiding the need for costly and time-consuming on-site support visits.

Sustainability as a guiding principle
Since food, and particularly cheese, is a valuable resource, Tirolpack is committed to sustainable business practices preserving resources and the environment. In-line seal inspection during production fits in this philosophy as the amount of possible leaking packages is strongly reduced. Furthermore, rejected packages with defective seals can often be repackaged, also reducing waste. The monitoring function warns operators or can even halt production in case of increasing rejects, avoiding waste of packaging film and the need for manual verification and sorting.
“We are very satisfied with the SealScope® system”, concludes Mr. Berger, “This is a true value-adding inspection technology as it not only improves outgoing quality, but also monitors the complete packaging line. We are definitely evaluating to equip more of our packaging lines with this innovative in-line seal inspection technology.”
Continuous investments are planned for the future to maintain our advanced standards, and these efforts will also contribute to the creation of new jobs in the region.

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Food packaging for supermarkets and retail stores requires a careful balance between ensuring product freshness and quality, using eco-friendly materials to reduce waste, and creating appealing branding to attract customers – all while keeping costs optimal and efficient. While some large supermarkets have their own food processing and packaging facilities, many products are provided by independent food factories or co-packers. A crucial aspect is the packaging quality, as defects can result in product spills, health risks, brand damage, and costly returns or recalls.

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With the increasing demand for high production volumes, it’s essential for food factories to implement automated packaging and inspection processes to prevent defective packages from reaching supermarket shelves. Although standard inspection steps like label inspection, metal detection and check-weighing are common, automated in-line seal inspection is particularly beneficial, as sealing is a critical step in packaging process. The use of new recyclable materials to reduce waste carries a risk of defective packaging, as the seal quality might not yet match the consistency of traditional materials that have been used for decades. 100% in-line seal inspection not only ensures product quality and shelf life but also enhances packaging processes and productivity, ultimately lowering costs for both food producers and supermarkets. This is why supermarkets have strong incentives to require their suppliers to implement seal inspection in their packaging processes. Also, in-line seal inspection itself represents a minor investment compared to the cost of an entire packaging line.

Packaging formats and trends
Maintaining the quality of food products is essential for preserving their freshness, taste, and visual appeal. Various flexible and rigid packaging formats are used depending on the application, often packaged under modified atmosphere conditions to prevent product degradation due to oxidation. Below is a brief overview of some of the most commonly used packaging formats:
• Flow-packs for sliced cheese, charcuterie, sausages, minced meats, tortillas, pizza dough, cookies, etc.
• VFFS bags for fresh cut, grated cheese, frozen food, cereals, chips, etc.
• HFFS/Pre-made pouches for ready meals, soups, cheese/meat chunks, cereals, pet food, etc.
• Trays/Thermoforms for meat (bacon chunks, sliced meat), sliced cheese, ready meals, appetizers, etc.
In the 2010s, resealability emerged as an innovation across these packaging formats, providing convenience for users, though it offered limited improvement in conservation once the package was opened and exposed to air.
More recently, the focus has shifted to the use of recyclable materials, such as paper-based or mono-material packaging, and reducing the amount of plastic used. This reduction is often achieved by changing the packaging type (e.g., switching from trays to flow-packs or using thinner films or trays). Another growing trend is the shift from cans and jars to pouches. However, regardless of the packaging format, ensuring a secure seal is crucial for maintaining freshness and product quality.

Packaging challenges and social media impact
In assessing customer appeal and product attractiveness, packaging branding plays a crucial role. Elements like printed films or colored trays can evoke a sense of quality and luxury, which are often key factors for discerning customers. However, these printed films can also introduce packaging challenges, which will be explored further. In today’s digital landscape, social media plays a significant role for supermarkets. Influencers, marketing campaigns, and storytelling (such as sharing recipes) are commonly used to promote products. At the same time, social media provides an easy platform for customers to voice their dissatisfaction with just a few clicks, particularly regarding product quality. When photos of defective products go viral, the resulting brand damage can be substantial.

Ensuring quality and safety
To minimize the risk of defective packages, it is crucial to implement stringent quality control measures. Supermarkets often conduct sample-based incoming quality control and regular audits of their suppliers, examining production processes, inspection technologies, and final outputs. By collaborating closely with suppliers, supermarkets can enforce the adoption of specific production and inspection technologies, thereby enhancing overall quality and meeting their rigorous standards.
Given the high production and packaging speeds in the food industry, particularly for high-volume products, it is essential to implement automated packaging lines that include inspection and rejection of defective packages. Automation is increasingly necessary as finding and retaining skilled operators becomes more challenging, and human errors and distractions can compromise quality. Automated systems can efficiently handle repetitive tasks, ensuring consistent performance.
Compliance with stringent food safety regulations is mandatory for all food manufacturers and packaging facilities. Inspection steps like metal detection, check-weighing, and label inspection are widely accepted and standardized to meet these regulatory requirements. While these inspections focus primarily on safety and information, they are less effective in ensuring overall package quality. Seal inspection, however, is a critical step in maintaining packaging quality. Often, this inspection is limited to sample-based testing methods, such as submerging samples in a bath or using a leak-testing device every 15 minutes. If a defect is found in a sample, a portion of the production batch typically undergoes further inspection—a labor-intensive and disruptive process.
A more efficient approach involves checking every package during the packaging process and rejecting defective ones before they are sealed and palletized. This method enhances quality control, reduces labor costs, and minimizes the likelihood that poorly sealed packages will reach the market.

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Schwarzwaldhof implements hyperspectral seal inspection for better packaging quality of bacon chunk trays
The Black Forest ham, sausage and bacon specialties from Schwarzwaldhof are always a delight. Schwarzwaldhof knows what makes these specialties so unique: the best ingredients, the experience of their employees combined with modern technology. And the latest addition to the extensive quality controls is a vision-based hyperspectral seal inspection system to detect bacon trays with product in the seal to avoid leaking packages.
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The history of the production plant in Blumberg began in 1965 and since then, the site has been progressively extended to provide new product variations and increased production capacity. As a subsidiary of EDEKA Südwest, the Blumberg-based factory has been a guarantee for excellent regional products, that are available in over 1.000 EDEKA stores. Today, Schwarzwaldhof employs around 330 highly qualified people who ensure the highest quality of the Schwarzwaldhof products.

Packaging a variety of bacon products

Beside the Black Forest sliced ham and sausages, an important product assortment are bacon chunks that are packaged in many variations and tray formats: single and duo trays, ultra-fine slices or larger chunks, originating from various types of meat, for different retail customers: all resulting in more than a dozen product variations.
The bacon is packaged on a MULTIVAC tray processing line, where the trays are filled and sealed under modified atmosphere conditions to preserve the freshness of the product.
Until mid-2023, the different inspection steps were X-ray, metal detection, weight control and finally before placing in carton boxes, a visual inspection was also done by the operators. The X-ray was initially intended to detect seal contamination: as the bacon products are gassed, seal inspection is crucial to preserve freshness. Compromised, leaking trays with product-in-seal need to be removed from the line and can at no cost leave the production site. At a production rate of up to 120 trays per minute, this end-of-line packaging was performed by up to 5 operators, a challenging and stressful task.
Schwarzwaldhof decided to optimize the end-of line packaging and had two goals: install an automated tray stacker to reduce the number of packaging operators and secondly systematize the efficiency of the seal inspection. The X-ray system, that qualifies foreign bodies based on differences in densities, was not suitable for seal inspection as the small parts of bacon were not reliably detected in the seal. Therefore, in 2022 Schwarzwaldhof started searching for an efficient, in-line seal inspection system that could cope with different – including printed – top seals and eliminate the need for visual inspection by the end-of-line packaging team.

Groundbreaking hyperspectral seal inspection

Schwarzwaldhof was already familiarized with Engilico’s solutions for seal inspection of flexible packaging (flow-packs, bags, pouches) and it was on packaging tradeshow Fachpack that they first saw HyperScope® Engilico’s new hyperspectral seal inspection solution. After successful testing of sample trays, Schwarzwaldhof decided to replace their X-ray system with the hyperspectral seal inspection system. HyperScope® uses hyperspectral imaging to detect seal contamination with obvious contrast, even with printed film. The inspection system features GPU-accelerated artificial intelligence (AI), enabling real-time, high-precision seal area detection. The detected sealing area is analyzed in several post-processing steps to detect e.g. seal breaches, contamination inclusions in the seal, etc. Finally, based on configurable decision criteria the package is accepted or rejected.
Hyperspectral cameras capture information from a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum including infrared wavelengths that penetrate the plastic top films. Hyperspectral imaging, therefore, unlocks new inspection possibilities where classic imaging often falls short, e.g., on printed film packages which are often used in premium products. The system can inspect up to 160 packages per minute, a speed that is well aligned with sliced, chopped and/or bulked-food production lines.
HyperScope® is equipped with its own conveyor belt and an integrated reject unit.
“Seal defects can have a disastrous impact on the conservation of the bacon product.”, says the Packaging Manager at Schwarzwaldhof, “As we were streamlining our end-of-line production, it is very important for us that 100% of our products are inspected.”
Even for aesthetic purposes, product inclusion in the sealing area is not acceptable for retail. HyperScope® can be configured to only reject critical contaminations that breach the seal while smaller, less critical seal inclusions can be optionally ignored. The defective trays are automatically rejected by the
HyperScope® system, collected in a box and re-packaged to avoid any loss of product. “In this way, through early defect recognition, the system also contributes indirectly to our strategy: helping to reduce waste and energy.”

Smooth installation, performant operation
The X-ray system was decommissioned and swiftly replaced by the HyperScope® system. The embedded conveyor was specifically designed to fit in the layout of the production line. The system communicates its operational status to the MULTIVAC thermo-former to synchronize the movement of the conveyor.
“We are very pleased with the installation and support by the Engilico team.”, adds the Packaging Manager, “Also, our operators reported that their overall job satisfaction and focus have improved since the automated, in-line seal inspection system has relieved them of the constant stress and fear of missing errors during visual inspections.”
HyperScope® is capable of processing different product variations, which is important as Schwarzwaldhof is producing for varied brands in several package weights and sizes. In total, more than 12 different product models were created and extensively validated. All daily inspection information for the different products is saved in a database that can be exported in many reporting formats.
An important benefit is the excellent remote support by Engilico’s team. The system UI can be monitored and adapted from within Engilico’s headquarters. As such, data can be captured to further train and finetune AI models, software upgrades or system fine-tuning can be efficiently addressed without wasting valuable time with local support visits.
“We experience less complaints, both internally as externally.”, concludes the Packaging Manager, “HyperScope® is a true innovative and performant inspection solution that is particularly suited for trays, even with printed top film.”
As Schwarzwaldhof has many other tray production lines for sliced ham and bacon, as well as flow-packers for sausages where end-of-line automation is in the picture, they are definitely interested in further implementing Engilico’s seal inspection technologies to globally increase their packaging quality and productivity.

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Kneipp improves their packaging process with in-line seal inspection

Today we visit the Kneipp® Oberhauser plant near Würzburg with Mrs. Heilscher, responsible for lean manufacturing. In this modern production plant, a wide variety of products are processed, including bath, body care, and even nutritional supplies.

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For Sebastian Kneipp, water was everything. He was known as the “Water Doctor” in Europe, pioneering hydrotherapy 130 years ago. People came from afar seeking his healing expertise and that tradition continues today. Only now, with the naturally pure bathing salts, one can experience it in the soothing comfort of its own bathtub. The perfumed crystals packaged in easy-to-use sachets require perfect sealing to prevent leaking crystals, aromatic loss and cosmetic seal deficiencies.

Unique deep salt

The primary ingredient of the Kneipp bath salts are natural salt crystals, whereby for certain product series the renowned Luisenhall deep salt is used. This originates from the Luisenhall salt works and is extracted at a depth of 460 meters from the brine of a 250-million-year-old primeval sea. While the crystals of evaporated salt have a rough, but closed surface, deep salt has a kind of crater landscape. With the help of these tiny cave systems, the salt crystals can literally absorb essential oils. In water, the bath salt dissolves and releases the active ingredients. Unlike many other salts, the primal salt in the depths of the Luisenhaller earth is protected from environmental pollution – and therefore free from harmful residues from fine dust and exhaust fumes.

Packaging in sachets

The precious salt crystals are packaged in sachets on different packaging lines including a rotary pouch/sachet packaging line and a horizontal-form-fill-seal (HFFS) machine. As Kneipp is associated with outstanding quality products, there is a definite need for in-line seal inspection of the sachets to guarantee the outgoing product quality. As salt is a brittle product, it will contaminate the seal if it gets crushed between the sealing bars during filling and sealing phase. With the high production volumes of up to 60.000 packages per day, it is nearly impossible to manually inspect every single sachet. This is why Kneipp was looking for an automatic, in-line seal detection solution.

In-line seal inspection is key to reduce manual QC
Kneipp learned about the automated, in-line SealScope® solution while visiting an international packaging tradeshow. The in-line seal inspection system instantly caught my attention.“, comments Frau Heilscher, “This could definitely address our inspection needs for the bath salt packaging lines.”

The innovative SealScope® system uses sensors mounted on the sealing bars to detect undesired product in the seal or folds, which can lead to open packages. Every produced package is instantly compared to a reference seal and when sealing errors are detected, the defective packages are automatically ejected from the conveyor belt. As bathing salt is a precious product, the rejected products are reworked, so there is no production waste.
At first, the rotary packaging line was equipped with SealScope® to verify seal defects such as salt that is stuck in the seal. Even when the seal itself is not breached, product in seal is not acceptable for esthetic reasons. SealScope® also detects folds or plies in the sealing area which can also lead to leaking packages. This is equally important to avoid the salt losing its aromatic qualities or spill in the final carton end-packaging box.

“Before using SealScope we had to manually eliminate bad sachets from our production, which was an inefficient process.”, comments Herr Klaus Müller, Technical Director Kneipp, “By using our automated seal inspection, we are able to eliminate nearly all defective packages in the production output.”
With the high amount of product variations and package sizes, SealScope® is also highly suited to keep all the production data stored per product type. A change in product requires about half an hour to replace the foil and clean the product fillers. SealScope® records all data per new production batch, so that eventual errors can be traced back to the exact product data.

Monitoring function supports lean manufacturing
But there is more. Another interesting function of SealScope® is the monitoring of the packaging process. Because each package is measured, it is also possible to register trends and deficiencies in the production process. In this way, if the rejection ratio increases, the packaging process can automatically be paused after e.g. ten defective packages and maintenance can be done. Or the machine can be timely adjusted, which can prevent production of bad packages and production delays. Typical issues can occur with small foil parts or salt that are built on the heated sealing bars.

From environmental perspectives, this is also beneficial to reduce plastic film waste as the production is instantly stopped when there are occurring consecutive sealing issues.
Also highly valued is the remote support via TeamViewer. In the rare case there is a technical question or issue with the seal inspection system, the Kneipp team can consult with the support team in Belgium, who can directly access the installation to provide assistance. This avoids enduring and expensive support visits.

“We learned about the automated, in-line SealScope® solution on a tradeshow. The in-line seal inspection system instantly caught my attention, as it could definitely address our seal inspection needs for the bath salt packaging lines.” – Frau Heilscher – Lean Manufacturing

Further deployment of seal inspection automation
As Kneipp is gradually automating the production and packaging, in-line seal inspection will continue to play an important role in further upgrades of packaging lines. “We are definitely pleased with the automated seal inspection solution.”, concludes Herr Müller, “The implementation of SealScope® is resulting in automated quality control, better process management and cost reduction on manual labor.” Also, our quality requirements are very challenging, as we need to comply as well to pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food standards. In this sense, the in-line seal inspection fits perfectly in the quality philosophy of Kneipp.

Another interesting project is being investigated for inspecting the end seals of tubes for e.g. shower and shampoo gels. Kneipp and the research team of Engilico are evaluating the use of hyperspectral imaging, with the purpose of detecting leaks in the opaque seals of the tubes. As such, Engilico’s seal inspection can be a solution to the challenges of today and tomorrow.

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In-line hyperspectral seal inspection enables end-of-line automation for packaging snack trays

Since 1949, one of the most popular television and party snacks has been produced in Austria: the thin, salty pretzel sticks from the brand Soletti. Meanwhile Soletti became part of Kelly Snacks, and the successful product of flour, water, salt and yeast is exported to more than 40 countries. To keep up with the continuous growth, Kelly most recently invested in two new production lines for packaging various types of trays. A key element for these salty snacks is to preserve the crispiness, so seal integrity is critical. That’s why Kelly also integrated two new HyperScope® systems into these production lines, for fully automatic and 100% in-line seal inspection of the single- and multi-compartment trays with transparent as well as printed films.

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Soletti’s product assortment has been extended over the years, offering a host of tasty nibbles and snacks, packaged in various formats, such as bags, trays, flow-packs and cups. Soletti is committed to use raw Austrian ingredients and sustainable production methods – an indispensable approach for an unbeatable flavor.
In 1985, Kelly acquired Soletti’s “Feldbacher Backwarenfabrik”, which was the largest baking production line for salt sticks in Europe at the time. In 2008, Kelly joined the Intersnack Group and Feldbach became the European Center of Excellence for baked products within the Kelly and Intersnack Group from 2010-2020.

“With 12,000 tons per year, Kelly is one of the largest industrial buyers of Austrian flour from Pregarten near Linz, Schwechat and Klagenfurt. The salt is sourced exclusively from the Salinen company in Ebensee in the Austrian Alps and processed at the plant.”, explains Mr. Matthias Stoessl, “Every day, 50 million salted sticks go through the baking line. The Soletti Pretzel recipe is a closely guarded secret, as is the production process.”

A diverse range of packaging

Snacks are packaged in different variations for many occasions: small personal treats, movie portions or bigger sized servings for families and parties. This requires different packaging formats such as flow-packs, VFFS (gusseted) bags, cups or thermoform trays with multiple compartments. To guarantee best-before dates and offer an appealing product, seal inspection is essential to avoid leaking packages or visible product particles in the sealing area. As the demand for snacks in trays is growing, Kelly decided to expand/upgrade their production capacity with new fully automated lines for packaging single trays, dual trays, or even quadruple trays with a mixed variety of snacks.
As seal integrity is equally important for these types of trays, Kelly was looking for a solution to inspect in-line 100% of the seals and automatically remove faulty packages, overall reducing manual labor for inspection and sorting. Defective packages lead to internal and external quality problems and high sorting costs, which of course need to be avoided.

Challenges with crispy snacks

There are different challenges with this type of product and its packaging. As the salted product is crispy there are crumbles that might get stuck in the sealing area. When these particles are small, they have a limited effect on seal integrity. But larger parts can result in a seal breach.
As the top film of the packages is often printed, contamination cannot be “seen” by a human eye or standard vision inspection systems. Inspecting with a camera from the bottom is also not a solution as the crumbles are hardly visible as there is typically a low contrast between the crumbles and the pale underside of the film, and certainly not when the tray is opaque.
Also, at a high production rate, manual inspection is simply not feasible. Finally, with multi-compartment trays there are often issues with product particles in the bridge. Also in this case, viewing or inspecting from below is difficult as the steep walls of the trays easily block the view of camera. So ideally, Kelly was looking for a solution that was: 1) capable of detecting contamination ; through printed top film; 2) usable for multi-trays; 3) capable of handling high production speeds and; 4) automatically rejecting faulty packages.

Enters HyperScope®, Engilico’s new solution for hyperspectral-based seal inspection of rigid trays and thermoforms.

Convincing remote demonstration
Kelly was already familiarized with Engilico’s solutions for seal inspection of flexible packaging. When Engilico introduced a revolutionary seal inspection system for rigid trays in 2021, Kelly was immediately interested in performing tests as they were planning to automate the inspection of their tray production lines. During that time however, the Corona pandemic was imposing severe restrictions on travelling and visiting customers on-site; a remote demonstration was organized using different types of packages that were sent to Engilico HQ for testing. After a successful demonstration, Kelly decided to equip their production lines with two of these unique hyperspectral seal inspection systems.

Seeing more with hyperspectral imaging and AI
HyperScope® uses hyperspectral imaging to detect seal contamination with high contrast, even with printed film. The inspection system features GPU-accelerated artificial intelligence (AI), which enables real-time, high-precision seal area detection, regardless of the package orientation, packaging material, layout and size. The system includes a conveyor belt that can be completed with an integrated reject unit.
Hyperspectral cameras capture information from a larger part of the electromagnetic spectrum including infrared wavelengths that penetrate through thin plastic or paper top films. Hyperspectral imaging, therefore, unlocks new inspection possibilities where classic imaging often falls short, e.g., on printed film packages which are often used in the range of premium products with luxury packaging, on packaging with opaque backings or in applications where the seal contamination is difficult to detect due to limited contrast. The system can inspect up to 160 packages per minute, a speed that is well aligned with sliced, chopped and/or bulked-food production lines.
In-line seal inspection using hyperspectral imaging is challenging – as packages on the conveyor belt have different orientations. Moreover, the package surface might also be slightly deformed, especially when lighter materials are used – a trend nowadays to reduce plastic waste. Since contamination only needs to be detected in the sealing area, it is particularly important to detect this region with high accuracy. HyperScope® relies on artificial intelligence for this task: the sealing area is automatically determined, regardless of package orientation, degree of deformation and number of tray compartments.
The detected sealing area is then further analyzed in several post-processing steps to detect e.g. seal breaches, contamination inclusions in the seal, etc. Finally, based on configurable decision criteria the package is accepted or rejected.

“It is very important for us that 100% of our production is inspected and packages with seal contamination can be removed from the packaging line.”, says the IWS Manager Mr. Matthias Stoessl, “Seal defects can have an impact on the freshness of the product. Also for aesthetic purposes, product inclusion in the sealing area is not acceptable.”

Smooth installation and deployment
The internal conveyor was specifically designed to fit in the layout of the production line. As the tray packaging lines were newly configured, the installation was relatively straightforward, teaming with the professionals from Kelly as well as with an external third-party line integrator.
HyperScope® is capable of processing different products and variations, which is important as the packaging lines are producing for different brands. In total, more than 16 different product models were created and extensively validated. All daily inspection information for the different products is saved in a database that can be exported to many reporting formats.

“We are very pleased with the installation and deployment of the two HyperScope® systems. This is a very innovative inspection technology that is particularly suited for our multi-compartment packages with printed top film.”, concludes Mr. Stoessl, “The new fully automated packaging line that features metal detector, HyperScope® seal inspection and checkweigher, positions us at the forefront of production and inspection capabilities.”

Monitoring production quality and process
As 100% of the production is tested, HyperScope® also serves as a monitoring tool for the complete production and the packaging line. When an issue occurs earlier on the line, and packages with defective seals are detected, operators can immediately take corrective actions. As an example, such a case occurred when the parameters of the thermoforming machine were wrongly configured, due to changing of packaging formats: typically, before sealing, the filled trays are automatically cleaned with a brushing tool to remove crumbles, but due to a wrong setting of the height of the brush, an unusual increase of defective packages was detected by HyperScope® and operators could immediately correct the wrong height setting.
Being a center of excellence, other companies from the Intersnack Group are obviously very interested in following these latest innovations at the Feldbach production site.

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Gittis deploys several production lines with in-line seal inspection and process monitoring

At the foot of the Alps near Salzburg, the Austrian company Gittis is surrounded by a natural environment that inspires every day to produce valuable baby nutrition. The Gittis products are 100% produced in Austria and supplied to customers all over the world. Baby food is delicate, and it is extremely important to meet the highest quality requirements of customers and end-users. As the Asian market, where quality requirements are extremely high, is of great importance, Gittis upgraded all their packaging lines for baby nutrition with 100% in-line seal inspection to guarantee the best packaging quality.

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Export imposes stricter quality requirements

It was more than a decade ago that China was confronted with an immense scandal after several infants died because of melamine contamination in Chinese baby milk powder. This caused a huge demand for European products as there was a lot of distrust in the locally produced milk powders. More recently, other problems arose when fraudulent organizations mixed cheap baby food with products from renowned brands and sold this mixture under the original brand. With the huge import of baby food and to avoid further scandals, also Chinese quality requirements drastically increased. As costs associated with packaging quality issues, such as recalls and brand damage, are extremely high, Gittis extended their manufacturing process with in-line seal inspection.

Gittis packages baby food powder in aluminum foil bags on ROVEMA VFFS (Vertical-Fill-Form-Seal) packaging lines. A perfect seal is critical as the baby food is packed under modified atmosphere conditions. The transport from factory to end customer is often exposed to harsh conditions. For the Asian markets, the goods are travelling several months in varying temperatures and subject to vibrations and shocks over thousands of miles on sea and land routes. Even the slightest leak will spoil the content resulting in possible customer complaints, high return costs and brand damage. With a daily production of over 90.000 bags, it is impossible to manually check every package. For optimal secondary packaging, the bags have tuck-ins and the multiple layers of foil need to be perfectly sealed. At high packaging speeds, it occurs that the foil is not ideally positioned during the filling, which can cause an imperfect seal and potentially leaking product.

Better process control through in-line seal inspection

As Gittis is driven by continuous improvement, they were looking for better and automated methods to inspect the product for potential leaks. They learned about SealScope® through another premium Austrian food producer.  After a positive evalaution, Gittis equipped their Rovema VFFS machines with SealScope® in-line seal inspection. The innovative SealScope® system uses sensors mounted on the sealing bars to verify whether there are defective seals which can lead to open packages. Every produced seal is instantly compared to a good reference seal and faulty packages are automatically rejected. The most common seal defects are plies or folds caused by the aluminum-based foil that is not correctly positioned during the sealing phase. Another seal defect example is product that is stuck in the sealing area which can also lead to badly sealed and open packages.

A major benefit of SealScope®, which also fits in with Gittis’ philosophy of continuous improvement, is the process control and monitoring function. In case of consecutive errors – e.g. due to plies or folds of the foil, or synchronization problems during dosing and bag filling –  the packaging process is halted, and operators are timely alarmed so they can quickly investigate the cause of the fails and take immediately corrective actions. This is extremely important to avoid issues with rework, sorting bad packages and unnecessary material costs. As an example, SealScope® was crucial to timely detect poor quality foil rolls that were supplied with pre-existing folds.

“We are very satisfied with SealScope®, especially the process control is a huge benefit.”, says Mr. Kalchhofer, Director Operations, “Since the use of this efficient in-line inspection system, our complaints have been drastically reduced. It is a smart investment, as the system quickly pays for itself.”

Excellent cooperation

Gittis is delighted with the professional cooperation during the installation and the daily use. More specifically, the remote support is a valuable functionality, allowing the SealScope® systems to be managed from within Engilico’s HQ support center. As such, unforeseen issues, software upgrades or system fine-tuning can be efficiently addressed without wasting time and money on local support visits.

Long-term cooperation with suppliers and partners is an important element in Gittis’ company values. Because of the excellent cooperation, Gittis has also already hosted several other potential customers in their production facilities to witness the state-of-the-art in-line seal inspection solution.

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KOTÁNYI innovates with in-line seal inspection of pouches with spices

What is the perfect recipe for a company that specializes in enhancing food with herbs and spices? Well, you need more than just paprika — you need passion, pioneering spirit, production excellence and an enduring striving for superb quality. Because Kotányi is automating their pouch packaging lines, they recently deployed two innovative, in-line seal inspection systems to assure the quality of their packages with herbs.

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Spice pouches full of flavors

Kotányi supplies their herbs in different packaging formats for retail and gastronomy business: classic glass or plastic jars, mills, and pouch packages. The packaging design and materials are subject to continuous development and improvement. Eg. for the spice pouches, by leaving out a single layer of plastic, Kotányi was able to considerably reduce the packaging waste. Customers can always rely on the proven quality of Kotányi herbs and spices. The strictest quality controls and compliance to the highest standards such as ISO 9001:2015 and IFS Food 6.1 ensure that the freshness and aroma is retained for a long time.

“One important aspect of the pouch quality is a perfect sealing to preserve the highest quality and excellent taste.”, adds Herr Bernhard Brenner, Plant Manager at Kotànyi, “For this purpose, Kotányi opted for SealScope® seal inspection, more specifically for their packaging lines of bay leaves and cinnamon sticks.”

Success based on the latest production technology: Enter SealScope®

For the packaging of pouches, Kotányi uses rotative Laudenberg and SN packaging machines. First the pouch is made from packaging film, by sealing three sides. Next the pouches are filled with herbs and sealed at the top. Initially operators manually verified the individual packages, but as Kotányi aims at production excellence by automating the packaging lines, altogether with the fact that operators are always more difficult to hire, it was clear that an automated inspection solution was required. Also, it is nearly impossible to manually check the sealing with constant focus and high accuracy.

Kotányi learned about the automated, in-line SealScope® solution through their packaging machine manufacturer. The innovative SealScope® system uses sensors mounted on the sealing bars to verify whether there are product or folds in the seal which can lead to open packages. Every produced package is instantly compared to a good reference seal and when errors in the seal are detected, the defective packages are automatically removed from the conveyor belt by an ejection system. As herbs are expensive, the rejected products are reworked, so there is no production waste and yet the best quality is ensured.

Two packaging lines for bay leaves and for whole cinnamon sticks are equipped with SealScope®. These are relatively solid, rigid herbs that will certainly cause a seal breach when stuck in the seal. Also, because the herbs are large, there is an increased probability that during the filling and sealing, product is stuck in the sealing area. Even when the seal is not breached, product in seal is not acceptable for cosmetic reasons. Besides inspecting for product in seal, SealScope® also detects folds or plies in the sealing area which can also lead to open packages. This is equally important to avoid that the spices lose their aromatic qualities.

Another important function of SealScope® is the monitoring of the packaging process. Because each package is measured, it is also possible to register trends and deficiencies in the production process. With the spices and herbs, there are often residues contaminating the sealing bars. In this way, if the rejection ratio increases, the packaging can automatically be paused and maintenance can be done. Or the machine can be timely adjusted, which can prevent production of bad packages and production delays.

Remote support helps to quickly solve issues

Kotányi is delighted with the professional cooperation during the deployment of the project, especially as this coincided with the corona pandemic. In an initial visit, all specifications and dimensions of the packaging machines were registered to manufacture the sensor brackets and configure the electronics for the controller cabinets. Soon after, the system was successfully deployed and operators were trained.

A valuable benefit that became apparent was the capability to adapt the SealScope® installation from within Engilico’s headquarters. As such, unforeseen issues, software upgrades or system fine-tuning can be efficiently addressed without wasting time and money by avoiding the need for local support visits.

Further focus on automation

As Kotányi is increasingly automating the production and packaging, in-line seal inspection will continue to play an important role in further upgrades of packaging lines, also for grinded spices. “Kotányi is definitely pleased with the automated seal inspection” concludes Herr Brenner, “Superb quality and safety are what we are all about, and SealScope® fits perfectly within this philosophy.”

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Puratos relies on SealScope seal inspection for packaging lines of O-tentic sourdough mixes

Delicious bread is a favored element in the daily food consumption of millions of people. Bread is typically prepared with high-value bakery mixes that consist of living ingredients such as yeast. As these need to be protected from oxidation and moisture, the packaging must be perfectly sealed. That’s why Puratos has equipped their Vertical-Form-Fill-Seal packaging machines with a SealScope® in-line seal inspection system.

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The Puratos journey began in 1919, just over a hundred years ago. What started as a father-and-son operation in Belgium, evolved into a successful international business. Puratos now offers a full range of cutting-edge services and ingredients to customers in the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate industry worldwide. Today, Puratos employs over 10.000 employees worldwide and has 65 production units in more than 50 countries.
We are zooming in on the Andenne site in the Belgian Ardennes, where high-quality sourdough mixes are produced and packaged for bakeries worldwide. “The site operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week” explains Paul Rase, Production Manager Sourdough & Grains, ”The O-tentic range, based on natural fermentation is renowned for creating breads with authentic taste, texture and flavor.”
To produce sourdough, flour is mixed with water and inoculated with lactic acid bacteria, which are selected according to the taste of the bread. During fermentation, the sourdough is fed flour and water to reach the desired consistency. Andenne’s sourdough production line allows the liquid sourdough to be dried to increase shelf stability. The drying

gives the sourdough an interesting toasted flavour as well. During the drying process, the liquid is transformed into a fine powder used in the production of bread. Quality is an important value for Puratos, as is their drive to always learn and improve. The decision to invest in seal inspection technology to deliver better packaging to their customers, perfectly fits into this vision of quality and continuous improvement.

Quality and automation trigger the need for in-line seal inspection
The sourdough bakery mixes are packaged in flexible bags of 1 kg or 10 kg on UVA vertical packaging machines. As these are packaged under modified air conditions for long preservation, it is important that the sealing of the bags is perfect. For the bigger bags, a firm horizontal seal is needed to support the heavy weight. The small 1 kg packaging format features tuck-in sides and the seal also requires easy manual opening. This requires extra attention to properly adjust the sealing parameters.
In view of Industry 4.0, the lines are fully automated – from packaging to placing the labeled bags in cardboard boxes, ready for shipment. Focusing on continuous improvement, Puratos was searching for an automated solution for seal inspection. In practice, at the speeds which they are packaging, it is impossible to manually check each bag produced for the presence of seal defects. And the sealing process, especially with a powdery product, is a challenge as product in the sealing area can result in a defective seal. A costly possibility would have been to check each bag under a vacuum bell to detect leaking nitrogen, but this would have required the use of an additional machine on the production line, taking extra space and adding significant maintenance costs.
Inspired by another Puratos plant where chocolate pellets are packaged, the production team of Andenne decided to evaluate Engilico’s innovative SealScope® system on a first packaging line. After a successful line audit, a first system was equipped with SealScope, and shortly after, Puratos decided to also retrofit their new, second packaging machine.
“We were pleased with the Engilico® system on our first line, and it was a logical step to also equip our second line with SealScope®. The system instantly detects seal problems and allows us to detect a process deviation as early as possible” explains Thomas Partiot, Process Improvement Manager, “On top of that, this solution excels in its simplicity of installation and its integration directly on the structure of the bagging machine.”

Automated seal inspection
As sourdough is a living product that is sensitive to oxygen and moisture, it is essential to have an effective barrier to protect it. Quality control of the seal is therefore of great importance to avoid open or leaking packages.The innovative SealScope® system verifies by means of sensors mounted on the sealing bars whether there are folds or product in the seal which can lead to leaking packages. The entire production is thus automatically verified and when errors in the seal are detected, the bags are automatically removed from the conveyor belt by an ejection system. The rejected products containing defects are reworked, so that there is no production waste and yet the best quality is ensured.
“SealScope® is an important element in the quality and value chain. As we are dedicated to deliver our customer the best quality and also because the cost of returned goods due to defective packaging is extremely high, our goal is to deliver 100% inspected packages to our customers,” comments Paul Rase.

Optimizing the packaging process using SealScope
Another important function of SealScope® is the monitoring of the packaging process. Because each package is measured, it is also possible to register trends and deficiencies in the production process. In this way, if the rejection ratio increases, proactive maintenance can be planned. Or the machine can be timely adjusted, which can prevent production of bad packages and production delays.
“A noteworthy example where SealScope® demonstrated its value occurred when an internal mechanical component suddenly broke in the packaging machine.” says Thomas Partiot, “As SealScope® instantly indicated a process variation, we could quickly react and investigate the source of the problem. “
To get the most out of the equipment it was necessary to have a clear understanding of the capabilities of SealScope® to put in place the right maintenance and use practices. With the support of Engilico® as part of a continuous improvement project of the production area, it allowed us to optimize the production process. Before the optimization process, the rejection ratio of defective bags was in the range of 15%, where after optimizing the production lines it is now between 1 and 2%.
“We are very satisfied with the seal inspection installations and believe this has a wide potential in the packaging industry”, concludes Paul Rase, “The main advantages of the SealScope® system are better quality of outgoing production, better control of the packaging process resulting in fewer product returns.”

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When SCHOEPS appointed a new general management in 2018, one of the first objectives was to increase outgoing product quality. With the company’s vision to deliver premium quality cheese products to their worldwide customers, they opted for SealScope® to 100% inspect their grated cheese bags for defective seals. As a result, the number of compromised outgoing products reduced drastically, to almost zero.

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The sealing of flexible packages is a critical phase in the packaging process for many food manufacturers. Wrinkles, folds, and product in the sealing area are the main causes of leaking packages. As food products are often packed under modified atmosphere conditions, even the smallest leaks reduce shelf life, induce changes in taste, pose health risks, and may also lead to expensive re-calls with potential brand damage. Engilico offers solutions for inline, 100% seal inspection of flexible packages enabling customers to realize better packaging quality, higher productivity, and elimination of manual inspection.

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Food production is a huge market with millions of packages produced daily. Many seal inspection processes are still based on off-line and manual inspection, but with increasing quality demands and higher productivity requirements, these systems are no longer adequate. Better alternatives are in-line, non-destructive inspection technologies, but for flexible packaging these are challenging. For example, standard vision camera inspection systems have many limitations for flexible packaging due to often non-transparent films, reflections, and the deformation of the packages. But with the Engilico solution, this seal inspection for flexible packages such as pouches, flow-packs and pillow bags is efficiently possible.

In-line, 100% seal inspection

SealScope® offers a unique approach to in-line seal inspection. Sensors are installed on the sealing jaws of the packaging machine and measure the sealing behavior during the closing of the sealing jaws. Every time a package is sealed, the actual measurement is compared to a reference model of correctly sealed packages. In case the deviation is higher than a user defined limit – due to product in seal, or wrinkles or folds in the seals-, SealScope® will issue a rejection signal and the package is excluded via an ejecting system. This automated 100% inspection leads to immediate benefits: Every single package is inspected, so manual inspection can be eliminated. By rejecting the defective packages, the outgoing quality is instantly increasing, inducing less rework and lower scrap. Another advantage of SealScope® is that it is independent of packaging machine brand manufacturers. Worldwide Engilico has integrations on packaging machines from renown brands such as PACRAFT, (Toyo Jidoki), Leepack, ULMA, GEA, Omori, SN, MesPack, HDG, etc.

Optimizing the packaging process

The immediate role of SealScope® is detecting and rejecting residual packaging defects, thereby optimizing the outgoing packaging quality. The sensitivity of the rejection level can be set according to the customer’s quality policy to find the right balance between outgoing quality and rejected packages.
As every mechanical process will eventually experience drift, variations in productivity and packaging quality start to increase. Drift can be caused by e.g., dirt accumulation on the sealing jaws, wear on moving parts, etc.

SealScope® continuously monitors the sealing process, allowing the operators to take corrective actions – for instance preventive cleaning of the sealing station. As such, the SealScope® monitoring tool, allows to avoid further process drift and to keep the machine in optimal shape.

Further are typical customer cases on how seal inspection helped companies in pet food, cheese, meat and fresh produce packaging applications.

Inspecting seal quality of wet pet food pouches

Wet pet food is especially prone to sealing concerns. Because many sauces or gels are used in the recipes, it easily can stick in, or around the package’s sealing area during the filling process
Badly sealed pouches are a major concern during the sterilization process, as when the pet food is heated, it might leak and pollute the autoclave. The disruption to production and man-hours for au¬toclave cleaning has a domino effect in cost. Worse, if compromi¬sed packages are not detected they can lead to reduced shelf life, liability for health risks, and broad re-calls. “

Special Dog Company, a Brazilian pet food producer has opted for SealScope® on their Toyo Jidoki rotating pouch packaging line. The automated, 100% seal inspection leads to immediate benefits: Every single package is inspected, so manual inspection can be reduced or drastically reduced. By rejecting the defective packages, the outgoing quality is instantly increasing.

“The non-destructive seal testing made directly on the sealing bars greatly improved our effective line efficiency from previous manual inspection methods.” Octávio Sobéron explains, “Special Dog Company is delivering a 100% inspected product, which means satisfied consumers.”

Hazeleger Kaas packs sliced cheese with care

Sliced cheese is often horizontally flow wrapped under modified atmosphere. To avoid product in seal, the positioning of the trays, the stacking of cheese on these trays and the relative positioning within the packaging film is crucial. Wrinkles in the fold-over must also be avoided to warrant seal integrity, especially for gas flushed products like cheese.

Hazeleger Kaas, a Dutch cheese packager installed SealScope® to monitor the performance of its OMORI horizontal flow wrap machines. The first role of SealScope® is detecting and rejecting residual packaging defects, optimizing the outgoing packaging quality. Typical rejects include cheese trays partially stuck in the seal, product in seal or wrinkles. The sensitivity of the rejection level can be set according to the customer’s quality policy to find the right balance between outgoing quality, packaging speed and rejected packages.

The benefits of SealScope® at Hazeleger Kaas are measurable in both increased output through a higher first-time-right ratio and better package quality, creating a sustainable competitive advantage.

Producer of dried fruit relies on SealScope® to guarantee outgoing quality

Seeberger is the leading brand of premium nuts and dried fruit in Europe. These products require gas flushed packages to make sure that the product quality and flavor are preserved. To improve their packaging quality and productivity, Seeberger was facing challenges when filling and packaging dried fruit on a vertical bagger. Depending on the variety of the product, the moisture and the natural sugar content, the timing of the filling can vary significantly. This occasionally leads to product in seal. When this seal is then cut, the knife gets contaminated with the product. This causes both a quality and a productivity challenge since the bags with product in seal cannot be hermetically sealed and the machine needs to be stopped to clean the knife.

With SealScope®, it is now possible to detect both wrinkles and product in seal. In this case, the knife is deactivated which has two main advantages. Firstly, packages with contaminated seals can be rejected, – increasing outgoing product quality- and secondly, the machine can keep running, increasing line productivity. In addition, SealScope® enables to determine the optimal packaging speed to further maximize the line output.

Handl Tyrol chooses SealScope® for stricter quality control on sausage packaging

In order to control the quality of flowpacks with dry sausages, that were produced at ever higher output rates, Handl Tyrol searched for an in-line seal inspection system. Manual or visual inspection of the seal quality of flow packs were not feasible. And, traditional CO2 detectors used in the final packaging have important limitations as they slow down the process and only detect larger openings in packaging. For this reason, Handl Tyrol required a more effective and versatile solution. Handl Tyrol uses SealScope® to inspect flow-packs with sausages where folds or product in the sealing area can lead to leaking packages.

Today, six packaging lines are equipped with the SealScope® solution. Imperfect seals and large wrinkles are systematically identified; this has significantly improved the quality of the finished goods, leading in turn to greater customer satisfaction.

The introduction of the SealScope® system has also improved productivity levels. Thanks to the early warning system, simple preventive maintenance measures – e.g. cleaning the sealing jaws – are now performed much faster. The monitoring function ensures that the packaging process operates within the correct tolerances. As a result, Handl Tyrol gained more control over its packaging process; downtime is reduced, and capacities are optimized.

Fresh produce, a delicate product for seal inspection

Packaging fresh produce is typically done using vertical-form-fill-seal machines (VFFS) under modified atmosphere to preserve the freshness of the vegetables. Therefore, package integrity is important to warrant shelf life. A big challenge is the seal inspection of sliced vegetables, leafy greens or salads. Because these products are lightweight, they swirl during the filling and tend -as they are often wet- to stick to the inner bag sides. Also, as the filling is not 100% controlled, it often occurs that the seal bars are already closing when the last leaves are falling. Because the leaves are light, they are often completely crushed due to the pressure of the sealing.

So how is Engilico detecting small fresh produce particles in the sealing area? For these applications, Engilico uses highly sensitive sensors. These sensors are able detect the slightest deviations during the closing of the sealing bars. Every individual seal measurement is compared to a reference seal and when product is present in the seal, a deviation is detected, and the bag is rejected.

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