Califia Farms Caps off Bottle Packaging Line With Vision Inspection

Califia Farms is on a mission to create a future where plant products replace dairy. Since its launch in 2010, this California-based food processor has grown to become an iconic maker of high-quality oat milks and almond milks as well as plant-based creamers, brewed coffees and more. With distinctive, curvy bottles that stand out in the dairy aisle, Califia’s brand recognition contributes to its market success.

“Last year, we began shopping for a new vision system to inspect the caps on our main packaging line. We wanted to be able to confirm that every bottle on the line is correctly capped, so we could be sure customers get the highest quality product and protect our reputation,” says Keith Meadows, director of engineering at Califia Farms.

“We also wanted to be able to quickly identify any issues with the upstream filling and closing equipment to maximize production efficiency. Our new inspection system needed to do all this and more.”

The V31 vision system keeps an eye on Califia Farms bottles even as they go flying by on a conveyor at speeds up to 1,000 bottles per minute.

“We talked to three different vision system manufacturers and considered the quality of the equipment, its suitability for our application and the reputation of the supplier,” adds Martha Cervantes, QA continuous improvement specialist at Califia. “Our sales rep and solutions engineer, Angelica Amancio of Pacific Packaging and Inspection, suggested the V31 would be a perfect fit for us, and then Mettler-Toledo’s great customer service sealed the deal.”

Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection’s modular V31 vision system can be configured to inspect caps, lids and/or labels at speeds up to 1,000 packages per minute. At Califia, the V31 identifies and rejects high caps, damaged caps, broken shrink bands and other cap-related problems.

“We’re very happy with the capabilities and accuracy of our V31,” said Meadows. “Compared to vision systems that only inspect from two sides, our V31 was customized with three different cameras for superior performance.”

Califia Farms products vary in type and size but not in their distinctiveness, so perfect capping is important for perception of quality.

Califia installed its new V31 vision system on its most versatile, high changeover packaging line. The bottles, which range from 10.5 to 72 oz. in size, are closed with either a combination foil seal and closure or with a cap with a tamper-evident band.

“Floor space is tight at our facility, so we needed a compact vision system. Our V31 was super easy to install and slid right over our existing conveyor,” says Patrick Fischer, senior engineering maintenance manager at Califia.

“The V31 is incredibly adaptable. Between our many products, bottle sizes and cap types, we’re sometimes changing this line over four or more times a day,” adds Cervantes. “All we need to do on the V31 is select a new preset recipe on the control panel and turn the wheel to raise or lower the camera height. Changing it over takes less than five minutes.”

“We asked Mettler-Toledo to equip our V31 with a traceability capability so we can easily identify which station on the capper is having an issue if the vision system sees an uptick in cap defects,” says Fischer. “They also provided a custom air nozzle to blow any lingering condensation off the caps right before inspection to maximize accuracy.

Califia Farms sometimes changes the line four or more times a day for different bottles. Preset recipes on the vision system’s control panel accommodate these changeovers in less than five minutes.

“Since we’re processing products with nuts and other allergens, cleaning and sanitation are important considerations for us,” he continues. “We love the fact that our V31 is connected to our central clean-in-place system, so it runs a cleaning cycle automatically and we finish up with a quick hand wipe. It’s really simple.”

“We’re really tuned in to the feedback we get from consumers. The cap samples we pull always look good, but we want to go a step further and inspect every single cap on the line,” concludes Meadows. “Our new V31 vision system helps us keep our customers happy, which is the most important thing.”