Applied Vision Corporation is now Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers. Metal can makers stand to improve product quality, brand protection, business growth, customer experience and sustainability with one reference partner.

Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers combines quality metal can inspections with powerful digitisation capabilities for improving product and supply chain visibility. 

https://www.appliedvisioncorporation.com/(Akron, Ohio, USA) announces that it’ll begin operating under a new go-to-market name — Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers — as part of Antares Vision Group, a global provider of machine vision inspection systems, track and trace solutions and smart data management possibilities.

With the acquisition of Applied Vision in December 2020, Antares Vision Group expanded its technological leadership to encompass a wider spectrum of inspection competencies and services in the food and beverage sector.

Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers is also benefiting from the purchase that strengthens its own can and bottle inspection capabilities. The company now combines Applied Vision technology with digital solutions for product and supply chain visibility that enable efficiency improvements from sourcing and production to distribution. By leveraging team knowledge and digitisation tools across the Antares Vision Group enterprise, Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers aims to help its customers build a clearer picture of their operations end-to-end.

Smart innovation

Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers, founded in 1997 and operating as Applied Vision Corporation until the fall of 2022, has developed vision systems for nearly 25 years based on patented optical, lighting and electronic image capture techniques combined with digital processing and algorithms combined with machine learning that allow machines to adapt to normal process variation challenges. As Scott Brandon, COO for Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers explains, this proven technology is now more accessible to customers.

“We’re the same organisation, leadership and staff, but now we’ve a name that more clearly identifies who we’re and what we do,” Brandon said. “Importantly, we share the same values as Antares Vision Group, and the synergy between our teams has already translated to growth in new market sectors.”

Brandon commented further that the company remains dedicated to ensuring customers receive the excellent performance in quality products and services they’re accustomed to.

Creating excellence

Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers is now benefiting from the synergy and collaboration between Antares Vision Group business areas that drive R&D and commercial advantages — everything from reducing the development time for new inspection solutions to expanding the options available to metal packagers to applying serialization on empty containers.

Centres of Excellence spread across the Antares Vision Group enterprise help to spur innovation that only happens when people, process and technology come together to discover what’s possible. Knowledge sharing between engineering and manufacturing disciplines, coupled with operational best practices within the Group, means more mindshare is concentrated on solving for emerging needs. Often the inspection cameras, lighting and AI logic used by one manufacturer can address the challenges faced by another.

Antares Vision Group merges the best of breeds of expertise and high innovative potential to provide complete inspection, traceability, authentication and data management solutions for metal container manufacturing through its Business Area dedicated to Rigid Containers. Over 1,000 employees serving more than 60 countries offer customers one cohesive ecosystem of technology and values.

Capturing data

Brandon went on to say that moving forward, Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers will serve as both a reference partner for quality inspections and for achieving high-quality standards across product and supply chains. As can makers continue to prioritise efforts around quality and safety, brand protection, and efficiency and sustainability, a unique partner that combines an ecosystem of relevant technologies into one convenient offering can accelerate enterprise digitalisation and innovation goals.

“If you want to know which machine is your most accurate decorator, or what line a problematic body maker originated from, we can offer a solution. Other times it’s knowing that the treatments performed on line three are producing a great result, and how can I apply this to lines or machines in other plants?” Brandon said. “As part of Antares Vision Group, we can leverage more resources and expertise to help customers replicate the best results throughout their facilities, minimise waste from discarded cans, improve recycling and take confident steps to fortify their operations against market uncertainties or the threat of a voluntary recall.”

“Maybe you want eyes on goods and materials from the source to the shelf, or your concern is improving returnable container management or recycling, and we can support those activities with supply chain transparency that brings your physical and digital worlds together.”

Same inside

Inspection systems from Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers will incorporate the same Applied Vision technology that has always powered the company’s machines. Proprietary imaging techniques at the base of Applied Vision solutions, together with deep-rooted technological know-how, allows Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers to stand out in the marketplace, according to Brandon.

“We remain a US-based multinational leader that sets a high standard for quality inspection of food, beverage and aerosol containers,” Brandon said. “This includes our Genius systems for metal container, ends and package configuration inspections. As an Applied Vision flagship brand, Genius still excels over most multicamera systems and is used on thousands of production lines in some of the most complex can making operations.”

Genius uses Applied Vision Technology to perform 100% inspections with precision on high-speed lines (up to 3,000 ppm) and automatically identifies and rejects defects by type, helping can makers make faster process corrections.

Growing globally

Thanks to Antares Vision Group’s considerable global footprint, Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers has also expanded its customer service footprint in Europe, the Middle East, South America and across the Asia-Pacific region.

Brandon points to excellent after-sale service as a key contributing factor to the company’s past success. Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers has traditionally hosted a service center within its US headquarters building to help customers get ahead of the curve with classroom training and hands-on instruction.

“Providing technical and managerial knowledge that facilitates quality inspections is core to our mission, and Antares Vision Group is helping us improve the reach of this critical expertise,” said Brandon. “We’re growing by getting closer to our customers where they operate to offer instant support with installations, parts and more.”

Recently, Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers opened a new service centre in Italy leveraging the Group’s Beverage Business Area main office that provides inspection and control devices for bottling and packaging lines. This co-location initiative expands Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers’ presence in Europe and supports customers in the Middle East. The company is also moving forward to open a third service location to benefit South American customers. Based in Brazil, the centre will operate from the Group’s local branch office that specialises in the inspection of life science and pharmaceutical applications while also delivering track and trace and smart data management solutions to a variety of industries.

One shared vision

Strategic acquisitions have made Antares Vision Group a leading technology partner for food and beverage, life science and cosmetics supply chains. By aggregating high-growth organisations of excellence that have demonstrated technologies at a global level, the Group is striving to represent a technological hub of excellence that helps container manufacturers ensure the safety of product, profit, people and the planet.

As part of Antares Vision Group, Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers invites brand owners to integrate and leverage their quality inspection results with attributes for end-to-end product transparency and safety in all stages of their supply chains.

“We help ensure optimal inspection effectiveness on the fastest, most advanced production lines in the world, regardless of container complexity,” said Brandon. “For those who already know us, it’s business as usual but now there’s more to see. Let’s also talk about transforming your plant into a digital factory to better understand your product’s journey. Others will find there’s no one more qualified to improve their quality and production efficiencies through accuracy, reliability and speed.”

Contact Antares Vision Group – Rigid Containers at +1 330-926-2222 or visit appliedvision.com.