Product flaws can be costly—for the manufacturer and the customer.
And when it comes to critical components like medical flexible tubing, there’s no room for error.
At Finger Lakes Extrusion, we’ve integrated the Surface Defect Detector on our medical extrusion line to ensure the quality and consistency of every product we make.
This high-frequency camera from Taymer inspects every millimeter of tubing to detect even the smallest of imperfections. It uses AI technology to identify, capture, and communicate to the operator surface defects such as gels, burns (discoloration), lumps, waves, and scratches that can be undetectable to the human eye.
Phil Scott, President of Operations, said, “Quality improves when you remove human subjectivity from the equation. We’ve used this camera for about a year—it’s an awesome system. Instead of the extruder operator manually inspecting the tubing, the camera inspects the full circumference and length of the tubing in real time, at high speed, and with incredible precision. It eliminates human error and doubt.”
In the medical industry, Finger Lakes Extrusion flexible tubing is an essential component in devices such as ventilators, operating room drainage systems, hospital cooling blankets, and CPAP machines.
Scott said this advanced vision system has helped increase consistency in product quality, benefiting employees and customers.
“It gives our operators greater confidence in the products they manufacture and gives our customers greater confidence and assurance in the integrity and performance of the flexible tubing,” he said.
The system immediately alerts the operator and the extruder machine when it finds a defect, taking an image and recording the length so the operator can easily locate it.
The camera also accurately measures diameter for proper fitting and compatibility and can be programmed to a customer’s exact specifications.
In addition, it provides data-rich reports to help us better monitor the efficiency and performance of our machines.
“The Surface Defect Detector helps ensure every product we make meets our high standards of quality and reliability. It’s an investment in our operations, and in our customers and their success,” Scott added.
He said the company is looking to purchase more of these high-tech cameras in the future.
“We run 3 of our 4 production lines 24/7. It’s our goal to eventually have fully-automated lines to further improve production efficiency, reduce human intervention, and free our extruder operators to do what they do best—use their technical and machining skills to make the highest quality tubing for every customer,” Scott said.
