Beverage
Beverage lines run fast enough that a small inspection gap is thousands of units before anyone walks over. The filler never sees the empty container. The capper does not tell you the tamper band is missing. A camera that was tightened after one escape then throws good bottles in the reject bin for the rest of the week.
A cocked cap on a beverage line is a cap that did not seat, a tamper band that tore, or a closure the customer can spin off. The line is too fast to watch the capper by eye. A camera set up on a stopped bottle misses the band once the bottles are moving. The station checks cap height and the band at line speed and gets that bottle off the conveyor before it is cased.
On the line
Caps, fill, labels, false rejects, and the empty container are different stations on the line. Finish, cap, and fill are measurements. A label has to sit right and match the SKU. False rejects are what happens when the limit gets tighter than the bottles you still sell.
Select a fault. The pictures show what we reject, and what still ships.
Measurement. The finish is checked on the empty container, before the filler. A mouth that is gone does not get filled.
How we fix it. Inspect the empty container for the finish, the sidewall, and residue before the filler. Reject it so it is never filled, and tie that reject to the container lot. This is the empty container, not the cap check that happens after the closer.
Where this fits: Single-camera station
Measurement. Cap height and a whole tamper band are checked at line speed. A setup done on a stopped bottle misses the band once the line is moving.
How we fix it. Triggering and lighting are built for the closure, not borrowed from the label camera. More than one angle covers the tamper band and the cap height. Reject timing is checked at full line speed, so a defect is off the line without slowing the filler.
Where this fits: Single-camera station · 3-camera station
Measurement. Fill is a level on the container, kept per valve. The bottle in the fault frame left the filler short. The bottle that still ships holds one level.
How we fix it. Fill-level inspection is matched to the container and the liquid. Results are tracked per valve, so the drift points at the head that caused it. Divert and alarm limits live in the PLC.
Where this fits: Single-camera station
Measurement and a match. The label has to sit straight, and it has to be the label for this SKU. A crooked label can still be the right brand.
How we fix it. Label verification follows the active SKU: presence, position, and print in one station. The run is not released until changeover has been checked.
Where this fits: 3-camera station · Barcode station
Normal variation. After an escape, a tighter limit turns bottles the plant would still sell into rejects. The camera has to be shown those bottles, or the bin stays full.
How we fix it. We read the reject images and separate real defects from nuisance rejects, then re-tune the light, the thresholds, and the tools on the real product. The new settings are checked against a known-good set and a known-bad set before they stay.
Where this fits: Line diagnostic
The station
On a beverage line the station has to keep up. A reject that only works when the line is slowed down is not a reject. The log still has to say why the bottle left the line.
1 · See it
The empty container is one station. Cap, fill, and label are later stations. They do not stand in for each other.
2 · Reject it
Timing is validated with the line running, not with a bottle held by hand under the camera.
3 · Record it
False rejects get a review of the images, then a retune. Tightening the limits forever is how good product ends up in the bin.
FDA and FSMA rooms are planned with your quality team on that station, the same way they are on a food line. The mechanical fact does not change with the rule: a cracked finish has to be rejected before it is filled.
How it works
One team handles the job from the first sample check to a running station. We choose the camera, lens, and light for your fault, build the control panel, connect the reject to your line, and commission it with your operators.
Rules and words
These are planned with your quality team on the station. The station supports them. It does not replace your own compliance work.
What plants are reading
Empty-container inspection is its own machine class. These two explainers are from Antares Vision Group. They describe the defects, not a result of ours.
Antares Vision Group · 2026
Antares walks through empty-bottle inspection as a different job from filled-bottle inspection. The defects are in the container: cracks, chips, foreign particles, and a finish that will not seal. Finish, sidewall, and residual caustic on a returnable bottle are checked before the product ever goes in.
Antares Vision GroupAntares Vision Group · Dec 4, 2025
The same gap exists on cans. A dented flange, leftover liquid, or a foreign body in the empty can becomes a seal failure or a spoiled product after the filler. Their piece lists flange, ovality, residue, and contamination inside the can as the reasons to inspect upstream.
Antares Vision GroupQuestions
It can if the limits are set too tight. We set them against bottles you still sell and bottles you reject, and we prove them on your line before the reject is turned on.
Speed is proved on your line during the diagnostic, a paid dry run with outputs turned off, not promised in advance.
The assessment starts with your containers. Light and camera are chosen for the container you run.
Yes. We build washdown-rated stations, so the camera, light, and enclosure can be cleaned with the line.
Send good and bad bottles for a vision assessment. You get a written answer before any proposal.
Next
Tell us the container, where the fault shows up, and how fast the line runs. If a station is already installed and throwing good bottles away, say that first.
Tell us about the line Line diagnostic
Other lines: Food · Packaging · Pharmaceutical · Medical devices
