OMRON Corporation has introduced the new V440-F Series Code Reader. Providing best-in-class accuracy^*1, the V440-F Series can read very small codes. Correspondingly, this will accelerate adoption of internet of things (IoT) in manufacturing sites.

The V440-F Series Code Reader can help in establishing sophisticated production traceability. That is, leading to visualization, analysis, and improvement of products and production processes. Consequently, this will help enhance quality control and equipment effectiveness.

Marking 2D Codes

Manufacturers have used product traceability for counterfeit prevention and recall tracking. In recent years, social interest in safety and security has been increasingly growing. Furthermore, today’s trend is to boost productivity and quality by tracking a history of production processes through IoT and utilizing it for manufacturing site improvement.

In the automotive and electronic component industries, which require high reliability, parts are becoming smaller and smaller. Thus, some parts are even too small for the naked human eye.

There is a rising need for integrated management of even such small parts from the arrival of materials through the manufacturing process to the shipment of products. Consequently, one of the common approaches to traceability is to mark very small 2D codes on parts and manage individual identification information recorded in these codes. However, this requires not only high-accuracy code reading capabilities allowing the recognition of minute 2D codes, but also the deployment of an advanced vision system by skilled engineers and the associated investment in integration and commissioning time.

To address these issues, OMRON has developed the V440-F Series that provides both the highest accuracy in its class and compactness and configuration flexibility by combining advanced code reader technology from OMRON MICROSCAN SYSTEMS^*3 and image capture technology from OMRON SENTECH^*3.

Raises Quality at Sites

The V440-F Series can recognize very small codes and other difficult-to-read 2D codes with simple setup through a web browser and offers connectivity to factory networks through a Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) connection. In addition, the V440-F Series’ imaging flexibility also serves as an advantage when users need to read 2D codes at a long distance, across a wide area, or on parts moving at high speed.

OMRON offers traceability systems that integrate the V440-F Series and industry’s most advanced industrial automation devices for capture of 4M^*4 information, which is essential for quality control at production sites, in addition to conventional item-level product traceability. Such advanced traceability systems can improve quality and productivity by linking individual parts with manufacturing process data and leveraging such information for process optimization and control.

OMRON sets forth a strategic concept called innovative-Automation consisting of three innovations or three i’s. They are integrated (control evolution), intelligent (development of intelligence by ICT), and interactive (new harmonization between people and machines).

By offering traceability solutions leveraging IoT technology through the V440-F Series, OMRON will address facilitating the construction of traceability solutions for data management, inspection, and transportation. OMRON accelerates the creation of an intelligent manufacturing site, which is key to the realization of innovative-Automation— together with its client companies.

Notes

^*1. Highest accuracy in its class: Based on OMRON investigation in November 2021.

^*2. Traceability: The manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors in every process from procurement of raw materials and parts through to processing, assembly, distribution, and sales are recoded in a 2D code to track the history.

https://automation.omron.com/en/us/solutions/traceability/

^*3. Both OMRON MICROSCAN SYSTEMS and OMRON SENTECH joined the OMRON group in 2017.

^*4. 4M: Acronym for “Man,” “Machine,” “Material,” and “Method” which are the four key elements of improving product quality