Page 8 - Vol.36-No.8 issue
P. 8

POULTRY

                                             X-RAY DETECTION WITH THE


                                                    LEAST FALSE POSITIVES


                              Latest software boosts SensorX bone detection performance
           For poultry processors around the world, Marel’s SensorX set a new standard in bone detection when it was launched in
         2006. From then to now, Marel did not rest on its laurels but continued to improve the popular concept. Given the current
          great emphasis on food safety, SensorX’ strive for ultimate, bone-free product quality is perfectly placed. The latest im-
             provement implies the virtual elimination of false positives – normally a disruptive inf uence in bone detection.

          Marel’s SensorX x-ray bone detection     Perfect balance             of  key  performance  indicators  such  as
        system is a success story for many years                               yield,  throughput,  quality,  capacity  and
        now. In the course of time, the role of in-  The  new  software  creates  a  perfect   labor efficiency. These valuable insights
        tegrated  software  has  become  increas-  balance between an increased detection   ensure  that  the  production  conforms  to
        ingly important to drive the SensorX to   rate  and  a  reduced  false  positive  rate.   quality and food safety standards.
        maximum accuracy and reliability.   But this equilibrium is a thin line. It’s no
                                            use to try and detect the very smallest,
                                            almost  harmless  bone  particles  if  the
                                            percentage  of  bigger  bone  detection
                                            isn’t high enough. The first aim of Marel
                                            was therefore to achieve the highest per-
                                            centage of “big” bone particle detection
                                            in  the  market.  Elaborate  testing  of  the
                                            new  SensorX  software  shows  that  this
                                            objective has become a reality.
                                             When  performing  bone  detection
                                            tests, false positives should always be in-
                                            cluded. If detection results are excellent,
                                            but the false positive rate is 30%, the ma-
                                            chine is useless, because there’s way too
                                            much rework to be done.
                                                                                        Market leader
                                                     Saving labor
                                                                                 By now more than 1000 SensorX sys-
                                             A  dual  lane  SensorX,  working  on  full   tems  have  been  delivered  to  high-end
                                            capacity, handles 240 pieces of meat per   poultry  processors  in  40  countries
                                            minute. Let’s assume the bone detection   around  the  world;  Marel  has  become
                  Less rework               rate is 5% and the false positive rate is   the market leader in bone detection for
                                            6%. That would mean that 26 pieces of   poultry.  Continuous  improvements  will
          For poultry processors, the ideal x-ray   meat are rejected per minute. As an av-  keep strengthening this position.
        detection  machine  should  detect  bone   erage operator can inspect 10 pieces per
        remnants  and  other  contaminants  with   minute for bones, three of them would be
        the  very  highest  degree  of  accuracy.     needed to keep the production running.
        What processors don’t want is a machine   When  you  succeed  in  bringing  down
        which gives too many false positives.  A   the false positive rate to 3%, this would
        false positive is material which is actual-  result in 19 pieces per minute, needing
        ly bone-free but which the machine han-  only 2 inspectors. In this way the labor
        dles and records as though it contained   saving  effects  of  the  new  SensorX  soft-
        residual  bone.  In  this  situation,  bone   ware are immediately visible.
        performance  detection  statistics,  whilst
        looking  impressive,  will  not  reflect  the   Food safety
        true  situation  and  could  be  misleading   Food  safety  and  consistency  is  vital
        for departmental management.  Marel’s   in  the  poultry  processing  industry. The
        latest Sensor X software not only reduc-  SensorX bone detection system is an ef-
        es  the  incidence  of  false  positives  to   ficient  and  cost  effective  way  to  detect
        an absolute industry minimum but also   and remove bones and bone fragments
        detects those difficult to see bone frag-  from poultry products.
        ments more accurately.  This means less   Marel’s  Innova  software  is  capable  of
        rework and fewer inspectors, enhancing   collecting  reliable  data  to  achieve  full
        still further the machine’s already excel-  traceability  throughout  the  production
        lent performance.
                                            process. It provides real-time monitoring
                                                                                                     Circle 8 on enquiry card
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