UK Industrial Vision Association

The judging panel for the UKIVA’s ‘Most Innovative Machine Vision Project’ award has announced that four companies have been short-listed. They are: Autocoding Systems, Olmec-UK, Scandinavian MV and STEMMER IMAGING.

The increasing importance of industrial vision in processing and packaging applications is reflected in the considerable commitment of the UKIVA (UK Industrial Vision Association) membership to exhibit at the 2013 TOTAL Processing and Packaging Show. Nearly 40% of the UKIVA membership has booked stands at the show.

The UK Industrial Vision Association is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The prime objective of the Association has always been to promote the use of vision in industry, primarily through a series of educational activities. Throughout its history the Association has produced technical publications, run educational seminars, attended trade shows, published technical articles in Trade & Technical magazines, produced newsletters and provided a technical help-line. The Association’s current newsletter, ‘Vision in Action’, is available in hard copy and as a download from the UKIVA website and provides a showcase for members and their interesting applications.

As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, the UKIVA has completely re-styled its regular newsletter. Re-named ‘Vision in Action’ to reflect the many and varied applications where industrial vision has been used to solve a problem, the newsletter is now available for download from the UKIVA website home page, www.ukiva.org. Packed with industry news, this newsletter has a strong emphasis on practical applications of vision.

The UKIVA (UK Industrial Vision Association) and EMVA (European Machine Vision Association) have jointly recognised the contribution made to the vision industry by the late Don Braggins. They chose the occasion of the recent VISION Show in Stuttgart to present Don’s widow, Anne, with a gift for her garden. The timing was particularly appropriate as Don had attended every VISION show up to and including 2009 and had been a regular member of the jury for the VISION Award.

A number of recent indicators suggest that the vision industry has weathered the worst of the global recession and is poised to emerge with positive signs of growth. Recently published surveys for 2010 from the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and the Automated Imaging Association (AIA) in the US predict an 11 per cent increase in turnover and a 2.6-4.6 per cent increase in sales respectively in their particular regions. Similarly, an informal survey of UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) members attending the UK’s Advanced Manufacturing exhibition earlier in 2010 revealed an upturn in enquiry levels and actual business since the beginning of 2010.

While the dedicated Vision and Robotics Pavilion at the recent Total Processing & Packaging show provided a focal point for UKIVA (UK Industrial Vision Association) and BARA (British Automation and Robotics Association) members offering vision and robotics equipment and services, it was interesting to note that over 20 of the other exhibitors also featured vision as elements in their various systems. Most of these vision systems were providing an inspection capability at the end of a packaging line or guiding robots to handle products at high speed.

A dedicated Vision and Robotics Pavilion at the Total Processing & Packaging 2010 Exhibition will feature members of the UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) and BARA (British Automation & Robotics Association). Both the UKIVA and BARA are now Special Interest Groups of the PPMA, and the pavilion will provide a perfect focus to show a range of vision and robotics products for the processing and packaging industries.

UKIVA Consultant, Don Braggins, has joined the Imaging Special Interest Group (ISIG) Steering Committee for the Photonics and Plastic Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network (PPEKTN) and the Sensors and Instrumentation Knowledge Transfer Network (SIKTN). The Steering Committee has been formed to provide a greater level of focus on imaging as a joint activity of the SIKTN and PPEKTN ahead of their merger into the Electronics, Sensors & Photonics KTN at the end of June 2010.

The UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) is delighted to welcome two new members, Panther Vision and the Digital Imaging Research Centre of Kingston University.

On the 3rd August 2009, directors of the Processing and Packaging Machinery Industry (PPMA) and UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) directors signed a Memorandum of Understanding about the amalgamation of UKIVA into the PPMA as a special sub-group. This follows a similar amalgamation of the British Automation & Robotics Association (BARA) earlier this year. PPMA CEO Chris Buxton said of the proposed amalgamation; “… it was combining and consolidating the strengths of all three parties.” The decision to pursue this amalgamation was agreed unanimously by UKIVA members at their AGM in March, and it is anticipated that it will be ratified at an EGM on 15th September.

The UK Industrial Vision Association (UKIVA) will be organising a series of free seminars at the Photonex09 Exhibition. The theme for this year’s seminars is ‘Aspects of Imaging’ and the Association is actively seeking feedback as to the sort of presentations visitors would like to see, to ensure that the content is as appropriate as possible. Suggestions can be made using a downloadable form, http://www.photonex.org/ukiva.php or by contacting the UKIVA direct: office@ukiva.org.