Hand sorting is out. Automated inspection is in atSwizzels Matlow, one of the oldest confectionery manufacturers in the United Kingdom. Increased demand for its Drumstick Squashies, a chewy candy, prompted Swizzels to forgo manual sorting in favor of using the Nimbus optical sorter fromTOMRA是一款自动落盘分拣机，可快速准确地对其鼓槌南瓜糖果进行糖果，帮助Swizzels提高吞吐量，同时确保产品的一致质量。
在2018年庆祝了自己的90年华诞,西南izzels is known for its iconic candy brands, including Love Hearts, Refreshers, Drumstick Lollies, Double Lollies, Parma Violets and Rainbow Drops. The family-owned business credits its long run in part to investing in new manufacturing and packaging equipment that have helped it to optimize the efficiency of its operations, which produced 20,000 tons of candy in 2018. That includes installing the TOMRA Nimbus optical sorter to handle the inspection of its Drumstick Squashies.
“We previously used manual labor to remove any imperfect sweets that may have been created during the process,” says Matt Whatcott, business unit manager at Swizzels. “Our desire to provide only product of the highest quality to our consumers drove us to seek an alternative solution to manual sorting in order to improve the effectiveness [of our operations] while also delivering cost benefits to the business.”
Under intense scrutiny
Swizzels一直在德比郡的植物中使用Tomra Nimbus光学分拣机大约一年。分拣机在自由落下分离并检查产品，允许检查产品的整个表面积。
The Drumstick Squashies are fed onto to vibratory conveyor that spreads the candies evenly and in a single layer. They then go into a free fall and pass the scanning area, which uses several sensor technologies to detect different types of defects, such as deformities like misshaped candies or candies joined together, unwanted discoloration, or foreign materials.
在自由落体中，糖果用激光检查，识别肉眼不可见的污染产品或异物。此外，高分辨率摄像机根据颜色，轮廓和形状（长度，宽度，直径和面积）对产品进行排序。Nimbus还包括生物识别签名识别技术，可以通过使用超出可见光谱到近红外区域的光，基于表面的某些化学和分子差异以及产品内的某些化学和分子差异来对缺陷的良好产品。
When the Nimbus detects a defect in the product, a powerful burst of air removes the imperfect product from the stream. It is then inspected a second time to make sure the company is not rejecting good product.
甜蜜的奖励
“在使用Tomra分拣机之前，我们手动检查了鼓槌南瓜，”Whatcott解释道。“由于手动检查运营商的甜食，这项任务挑战了一侧在输送机上朝下。这意味着它们并不总是可以将缺陷识别，因为检查仅覆盖了甜食的60％的表面区域。检查任务也是单调的，这意味着焦点可能会随着时间的推移而变化。“
“托马斯的尼姆斯使我们能够建立一个更加自动化的生产线，并围绕我们产品质量检验更加严谨，”他说。“我们对我们提供对客户的最佳标准的甜食能力有更高的信心。它使我们能够实现更加一致的高质量产品;发展我们的业务;并满足客户的需求。“
