Advanced Vision Systems for Food Packaging Solutions

MultiSource Manufacturing LLC and Forpak have partnered to design and build high-quality, innovative solutions for food packaging for over 25 years. Our designs are intelligent, automated systems for downstream production on a sanitary factory line. Not only does our equipment provide tools for automated laning, sorting, stacking, autotransferring, and rejection systems that can be easily integrated into existing facilities, but also our designs also meet industry standards for hygiene and sanitation, including NSF 3A and Baking Industry Sanitation Standards Committee (BISSC) standards. Forpak designs are industry-leading food packaging solutions that are used around the world. Our incorporation of advanced technology, including Allen-Bradley controls and Cognex vision systems, are just part of why our customers trust Forpak equipment to support their production line.

Allen-Bradley Controls

Forpak utilizes Allen-Bradley controls in NEMA 4X Watershed Enclosures that allow full wash-down sanitation to minimize contamination and prevent harborage. These control enclosures simplify and speed up cleaning procedures to limit the downtime of your production line.

Cognex Vision Systems

While your production line is in operation, our use of Cognex vision systems are key in the automated controlling of imperfect or defective goods rejection. Rejection systems are an important part of any automated line to prevent the accidental packaging of damaged goods.

Food Packaging Solutions

Forpak Reject Systems use Cognex technology to target, divert, and remove discrepant products, protecting quality goods and keeping your downstream line moving. For any food packaging solutions, reliable and precise vision systems are essential. That’s why we rely on Cognex In-Sight vision systems that combine the use of a camera, software program, and processing unit into a single device.

The newest Cognex vision systems are industrial-grade, learning camera machines. These systems can solve complicated visual puzzles with optical character recognition (OCR), verification of package assembly, and the detection of discrepancies.

Cognex vision systems serve to:

  1. Inspect: On a production line, Forpak reject camera vision systems continually inspect moving products in any format, including goods moving in single file lines toward flow wrappers, products in disorganized grouping, and even stacked products.
  2. Identify: While vision systems inspect products passing through, they will be able to identify any damaged, inconsistent, or discrepant goods with vision software that can compare spatial geometries to a control.
  3. Guide: When discrepant products are identified, our reject systems automatically can guide those goods off of the conveyor line. This is done by dropping the discrepant goods below the production line, pushing them aside, or separating them into another transfer line.

Cognex a Version of Food Packaging Solutions 

A reliable reject system will eliminate inaccuracies in your production and packaging operations, reduce factory downtime, and help protect sanitation and hygiene. To learn more about our use of Cognex vision systems in our food packaging solutions, contact Forpak at (612) 419-1948 or forpaksupport@multisourcemfg.com. You can also request more information online today or request a quote to get started with us today.

History of Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Packaging

Since the first developments of electrically powered technology in the mid-1800s, engineers, scientists, and manufacturers have created a diverse, multifaceted industry that fabricates millions of devices for a broad variety of purposes. Today’s massive demand for more and more intelligent designs and sustainable solutions functions in tandem with internationally standardized regulations in the industry. Not only are manufacturing practices and production facilities required to meet these industrial standards, but also the parts and assemblies themselves are standardized. This regimenting of basic components is beneficial to all manufacturing industries, not just electronics devices, and it’s created a production and distribution system that supports the work of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers like us. MultiSource Manufacturing LLC provides semiconductor parts production and electromechanical assembly operations for several electronic device industries, including medical, defense, aerospace, and more.

Semiconductor

A critical part of the semiconductor and electronics production process is the fabrication and assembly of electrical packaging. Building the integrated circuit packaging used to encapsulate and work with the semiconductor microchip is another standardized process. We build high-quality packages that fit multiple current standards depending on the semiconductor and the application of the entire kit.

Earliest Circuit Packages

The earliest circuit packages were built in the 1960s. The first package was built in 1962 by Y. Tao, and it was the first version of ceramic flat packs, a packaging format that the U.S. military would use for several years. These ceramic packages are small and reliable designs.

The first integrated circuit package was developed in the 1970s. These designs also used ceramic as the main package material with all of the circuit leads along the same side of the chip. The first plastic package designs were dual in-line packages (DIP) that were developed in the late 1970s.

Pin Grid Arrays

By the 1980s, chips needed to grow to meet larger, smarter, and more intricate device specifications. This demand led to pin grid arrays (PGAs) and leadless chip carriers, in addition to surface mount packaging. These surface mount designs could take up to 30-50% less surface space with about 70% less thickness than DIP packages.

Area Array Packages

In the early 1990s, the area array package was the next significant design development. This led to the popularizing of the ball grid array (BGA) and other array packaging techniques. Next, the plastic quad flat pack and thin small outline packages replaced PGAs for most devices.

From PGA to Land Grid

Industry leaders moved from PGA packages to land grid arrays in the 2000s, but most microprocessors still use PGA designs. BGA packages also grew into flip-chip ball grid arrays (FCBGA) that inverted the mounting of the die.

There have been several other recent packaging developments over the last 10 years, such as System in Package (SiP) and multi-chip modules (MCMs). MultiSource Manufacturing is capable of producing several types of packages with varying formats and materials.

Semiconductor Components

To learn more about our work with semiconductor components, contact us at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information or request a quote to get started with us today.