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Sounds like you worked for an integrator, so it stands to reason that you had a high success rate. Cognex, Keyance, DVT, et al sold a lot of smart cameras in ba

Sounds like you worked for an integrator, so it stands to reason that you had a high success rate. Cognex, Keyance, DVT, et al sold a lot of smart cameras in batches of 1 and 2 to non-vision experienced engineers based on the lie that they could bolt it up to a conveyor and in an afternoon of programming on their game controller they could be up and running and miraculously improving their quality by 30% by next Monday. I think the vast majority of these cameras never saw production.

snerbles 4y ago
As an OEM the ones we deployed definitely saw (and are probably still seeing) production. I can personally confirm off the top of my head that Proctor & Gamble, Revlon, Duracell, Mars Candy, Bausch & Lomb, Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim (and more) use Cognex cameras in their product packaging lines. The promise is - as you say yourself - in systems that are easily maintained by non-vision experienced engineers. As I noted in another post, these are usually controls engineers that overwhelmingly prefer ladder logic on their PLCs and have little exposure to modern software engineering practices such as source control. Obviously it's not "up in an afternoon" - any sales rep that promised that got sent away (Keyence, I'm looking at you) - debugging consists of a lot of product test runs and more mechanical/controls work and definitely takes more than a day. I tried on more than one occasion to put forward PC-based systems, but the customers wanted the smart cameras. Though I did frequently use OpenCV for batch image analysis in-house, I ought to write an article or two about that bit.
- vidanay 4y ago
  >I can personally confirm off the top of my head that Proctor & Gamble, Revlon, Duracell, Mars Candy, Bausch & Lomb, Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim (and more) use Cognex cameras in their product packaging lines. >I tried on more than one occasion to put forward PC-based systems, but the customers wanted the smart cameras. Oh, all those that you listed also use PC-based systems. I know because all of them are also customers of ours.
  - snerbles 4y ago
    What can I say, I wish I had your customer PMs.

snerbles 4y ago

As an OEM the ones we deployed definitely saw (and are probably still seeing) production. I can personally confirm off the top of my head that Proctor & Gamble, Revlon, Duracell, Mars Candy, Bausch & Lomb, Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim (and more) use Cognex cameras in their product packaging lines. The promise is - as you say yourself - in systems that are easily maintained by non-vision experienced engineers. As I noted in another post, these are usually controls engineers that overwhelmingly prefer ladder logic on their PLCs and have little exposure to modern software engineering practices such as source control. Obviously it's not "up in an afternoon" - any sales rep that promised that got sent away (Keyence, I'm looking at you) - debugging consists of a lot of product test runs and more mechanical/controls work and definitely takes more than a day. I tried on more than one occasion to put forward PC-based systems, but the customers wanted the smart cameras. Though I did frequently use OpenCV for batch image analysis in-house, I ought to write an article or two about that bit.

vidanay 4y ago
>I can personally confirm off the top of my head that Proctor & Gamble, Revlon, Duracell, Mars Candy, Bausch & Lomb, Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, Boehringer Ingelheim (and more) use Cognex cameras in their product packaging lines. >I tried on more than one occasion to put forward PC-based systems, but the customers wanted the smart cameras. Oh, all those that you listed also use PC-based systems. I know because all of them are also customers of ours.
- snerbles 4y ago
  What can I say, I wish I had your customer PMs.