Toly, a leader in cosmetic packaging manufacturing, has adopted Spark from Scortex, an AI-powered automated quality inspection solution, for its production lines. Currently in use at three sites, this technology aims to reduce rejection rates and improve product quality. In our interview, Olaf Zahra, Technical and Sustainability Director at Toly, explains the motivations behind this choice and the results obtained.

Can you introduce Toly ?

Olaf Zahra: Toly is a manufacturer and supplier in the beauty industry. We are making packaging for skin care, color, fragrance and other peripheral areas of beauty.

What was your quality control challenge ?

Olaf Zahra: Basically cosmetic packaging typically has some complex decoration and some of it is very fine. So if we are relying on simply process control and the operator, sometimes, it is impossible to capture each and every issue. This is why we needed a more automated system to be able to do 100% quality control of the products we are producing.  

What were your quality control objectives?

Olaf Zahra: The main quality objective is that some of the very fine text we have on our products is actually legally binding, and because it is very fine, it is very easy for that to go out of the control limits. Basically, if you have a system that catches the problem immediately, then you can minimize your rejection and you can aim for less than 1% rejection, even on a very fine decoration.

What were the results and gains obtained thanks to Spark deployment?

Olaf Zahra: We have used vision systems before, but these vision systems were always very cumbersome in order to set up. The learning system of the process always hours, days, sometimes weeks. The biggest advantage that we saw with Spark system is the ease of set up. We can change decoration from one decoration to another in a matter of minutes, maybe an hour, rather than days.

Sometimes it takes minutes for the operator to realize that the quality has shifted. In a minute, we are probably processing 50 or 60 parts,  and every minute that passes is quite a huge rejection. The fact that immediately you know that there is a problem, immediately the process is stopped, and you can adjust, gives you a massive advantage in terms of limiting the wastage. 

Have you achieved your quality objectives thanks to Spark ?

Olaf Zahra: Absolutely. As I said, the ease of use of the system is the biggest selling point. And the investment is more than made up for by the reduction in rejection and wastage. 

Do you plan to deploy Spark on other types of products, production lines?

Olaf Zahra: Yes, we installed our first kit about 18 months ago. We now have 3 in total, and the plan is to roll them out until we cover basically all of our decoration production processes. Eventually, we would like to try the system on other processes than decoration.

With the adoption of Spark, Toly has taken a significant step forward in automating the quality control of its cosmetic packaging. This technology has enabled the reduction of rejection rates and the improvement of product quality. The results obtained have led Toly to consider deploying Spark at other production sites, marking a significant milestone in their quest for performance and efficiency.

Spark is an AI-powered automated quality inspection solution that offers a quick, easy-to-deploy approach without requiring costly expertise. These are considerable advantages for production sites looking to transition from manual to automated quality inspection or to optimize their existing quality control processes. The benefits include achieving high-performance quality control, managing the cost of quality, scaling up production, and reducing customer complaints.

Spark is developed and fully assembled by Scortex in France.

Here are some other articles that might interest you:

·        Automated quality inspection : what’s in it for me?

·        The applications of automated quality control with AI in the cosmetics industry   

·        Use case: lipstick manufacturing

·        Video interview of Olaf Zahra from Toly