The staff of the Faculty of Automation and Computer Engineering of Novosibirsk State Technical University (NETI) has developed a software and hardware complex for quality control of printing at the Moscow enterprise.
The device for quality control of printing of printed products at one of the country's largest enterprises for the production of cardboard packaging for dairy products of PJSC Lambumiz uses a typographic method. According to the head of the Department of Automated Control Systems at the NSTU-NSTI, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Ivan Tomilov, earlier color quality control was carried out selectively — the check took place at long intervals, which threatened to reject some of the printed products.
"We proposed automating the quality control of printing products using a software and hardware complex and analytics that shows whether there are deviations in the application of color to packaging," said Ivan Tomilov.
The solution developed by the staff of the department is a zone with constant lighting for remote shooting of product samples using professional photographic equipment and a specially created program that uses algorithms to compare the printed image with the reference image, taking into account possible microswitches and micro-rotations.
"We have confirmed the fundamental possibility of automated image comparison, and we are currently discussing the second stage of work with representatives of the company. It is planned to create a system of continuous automated control of printed products immediately on the machine — this will allow monitoring the quality of printing in real time. In the future, we plan to solve the problem of automatically interfering with the printing settings to adjust the color supply or stop the printing machine," said Ivan Tomilov.
Earlier, the technological solutions of NSTU-NETI scientists made it possible to modernize the printing machine at the enterprise, as a result of which the equipment reached its design capacity: the machine prints and applies creasing at a speed of 180 meters per minute.