Edge AI for fault detection on the production line

Edge AI for Visual Quality Control in the Food Industry: Faster, More Accurate and More Reliable

Food safety and quality are crucial within the food industry. After all, every producer wants to prevent products with defects or contaminations from reaching customers. Yet in practice, this often proves challenging. Indeed, traditional human visual inspection has significant limitations. Human inspectors tire quickly, especially at high production speeds, so they easily overlook minor deviations. This can lead to serious quality problems, costly product recalls and reputational damage. For example, research shows that a single recall costs a large company as much as $10 million on average.

In addition, it is practically impossible to guarantee continuous, 24-hour control with only human inspectors. This creates inevitable gaps in quality control, increasing the risk of errors. Fortunately, Edge AI (artificial intelligence applied directly on site) offers a powerful solution to this problem.

What is Edge AI?

Edge AI brings artificial intelligence to the edge ("edge") of the network, close to the source of data. In the food industry, this means applying advanced AI technology directly at the production line, without dependence on the cloud. This offers significant advantages in terms of speed, reliability and security.

How does Edge AI work in visual quality control?

With Edge AI-driven visual inspections, cameras are installed directly above the production line and linked to local AI computer systems. These systems use so-called "machine vision" algorithms that perform real-time analysis of products moving by on the belt.

Automatic detection of anomalies

The algorithms detect anomalies such as color changes, damages and deviations in shape or size-even minute defects barely visible to the human eye are reliably identified. As soon as a deviation is detected, the system automatically and immediately sends a signal to the ejector mechanism. Thus, defective products are removed from the product flow before they are packaged.

Case study: rugged industrial panel PCs

In practice, industrial panel PCs such as the SimplexWaterproof panel PC are often used for this purpose. These rugged computers are fully IP67 waterproof, passively cooled and equipped with a food-safe stainless steel housing, ideal for hygienic and humid environments such as food production lines.

Thanks to integrated AI modules, such as NVIDIA Jetson or AMD Ryzen™ AI accelerators, such a system offers impressive computing power-up to 100 TOPS (tera operations per second)-guaranteeing fast image analysis and decision-making. The systems are directly connected to high-speed cameras that continuously capture images. Through real-time analysis, anomalies can be identified and addressed without delay.

Why Edge AI works better than cloud-based systems

Unlike cloud-based quality controls, Edge AI offers several key advantages:

No delay

Edge AI works locally, resulting in virtually no latency. This is essential in fast-moving manufacturing processes, where every fraction of a second counts.

Data security

Because data is processed locally, sensitive product and process data stays within the company. This prevents confidential information about recipes or production processes from potentially getting into the wrong hands via the cloud.

Uninterrupted production

Edge AI systems are not dependent on a stable Internet connection. Even during network outages, production continues to run uninterrupted, minimizing downtime.

Easily scalable

New lines can be easily equipped with additional panel PCs with cameras, without having to set aside extensive network capacity for cloud connections.

Conclusion: Edge AI as standard in food safety

Edge AI offers food manufacturers a powerful, fast and reliable way to greatly improve their visual quality control. By integrating smart technology directly on site, products are checked more accurately, recall costs are reduced and customer confidence is maintained. In an industry where quality and safety are essential, Edge AI is therefore the innovative solution manufacturers can build on.