Closing the web-inspection loop with automatic defect marking

Automatic web-inspection systems are becoming increasingly more popular. Whether it be surface inspection on an extruder, print inspection on a gravure press or a coatweight gauge on a laminator, web-fed processes can be monitored automatically for out-of-spec conditions. Defects sensed then need to be found and culled out on a downstream process. Some systems alarm operators, who then manually mark the web. Others create digital roll maps which create a record of defects and their locations. Manual marking processes are inaccurate and dangerous, and data in digital roll maps cannot always be synchronized with locations in the actual roll. The answer is closing the inspection loop with devices that automatically place a physical mark on the web at areas of interest or as a reference point for a roll map.