Your package is your brand - Never fail... in practice at L’Oréal

In the eyes of a customer, your package is your brand. Missing or misplaced labels, spilled products, damaged seals may derail your best efforts to build up brand image and make your business grow. A company like L’Oréal is well aware of this fact: “Striving for Excellence – Perfection is our goal” is one of its corporate values.

In the Karlsruhe production plant – one of L’Oréal’s largest European production sites outside France – Omron’s ZFV teach & go vision sensors are supporting that value.

PURE ZONE, deep control

Along with other products, at Karlsruhe, L’Oréal’s “PURE ZONE, deep control”- bottles are filled, labelled, packed and shipped throughout Europe. After each container is filled and closed, two labels are attached – one on the front of the container, one on the back. The package represents L’Oréal’s brand, so accurate placement of these labels is crucial. This is where the ZFV comes in. It makes sure that the correct label is attached to the correct side by verifying a unique feature on each label using the (Pattern) Match function. This unique feature is typically one of the printed elements on the label to be inspected such as a symbol or a name, and since both sides of the object are inspected, 2 ZFV sensors are used. No problems with different product types Although more than 1 variant of the product is processed on this machine, this is no problem for the ZVF.

Intuitive, easy-to-use product concept

The settings for each variant are stored in the ZFV’s “bank storage” and are switched via digital input signals, so there’s no need to re-teach when the product type is changed. The line speed of approximately 110 objects per minute is also no problem for the ZFV since it is able to handle those cycle times per second. It’s no surprise that, beside its functionality, one of the key reasons for L’Oréal buying the ZFV was its intuitive, easy-to-use product concept.

Without needing specially-trained personnel, vision specialists or external support, L’Oréal was able to solve all the challenges presented by the application in an extremely short period of time.

Target! Teach! Go! A good example of how Omron’s ZFV helped to ensure L’Oréal’s brand image.