Looking for ways to improve the inspection of its critical components, Beatson Clark turned to Bowers Group, investing in a Baty Venture XT 3030 CNC system to assist in its measurement of critical dimensions of mould components that produce the necks of glass bottles and jars.

One of the UK’s largest manufacturers of pharmaceutical glass containers, Beatson Clark has been designing and manufacturing glass bottles and jars for 270 years and is still leading the way in quality, flexibility and innovation.

While constantly striving to provide superior performance in its quality and service, the company also has an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement, investing in future technologies.

Offering a wide range of glass containers for the food, pharmaceutical and beverage markets, and working with clients such as Gaviscon, Hendricks and Baxters, the products Beatson Clark produce must be of the highest quality to protect its reputation and that of its customers’ brands.

As highly specified tooling is the start to the process at Beatson Clark, an improved inspection system was the next logical step in its evolution as the company looks to improve efficiencies across the whole factory. The Baty Venture XT offered the ideal solution for its unique measurement requirements for presented within its mould shop.

Used every day, primarily by quality department inspectors, the system measures components that form the neck area of bottles and jars. These components have many critical dimensions and form the bulk of the system’s work, allowing the team to check batch parts thoroughly and ensure only quality components are used in production.

With its user-friendly design making the machine quick and easy to learn, the XT is also utilised to qualify machinist’s work, allowing for all components that make up a tooling set to be inspected along the manufacturing process.

Fast, accurate and user-friendly
Daryl Fletcher, Beatson Clark mould shop manager, said: “The vision system is very impressive. It is fast, accurate, and user friendly. Being able to import DXF files gives us the option of comparison as well as direct measurement. The software is intuitive and easy-to-use, yet very powerful with recognising features and alignment.

“We can very quickly give basic training to many users, so we are not reliant on a single person. There is one particular feature on our guide plates that previously was near-impossible to measure with any sort of accuracy and repeatability. The Baty now makes this measurement very easy and has already proved its worth.”

The Venture XT has X, Y and Z travels of 300 x 300 x 200mm and includes a controller and two 19in monitors. With its simple ‘teach and repeat’ process, the CNC completely automates the inspection process. This allows advanced features, such as scanning and best fitting, to be done quickly without taking up the time of skilled operators.

The critical features that make up the neck equipment are extremely difficult to measure with any form of accuracy using traditional equipment, resulting in the inspection of components being both difficult and time-consuming.

The XT now renders the process simple and reliable with its ability to measure with complete accuracy, ensuring good tooling through to the moulding machines which translates into fewer quarantined products.

Mr Fletcher added: “The Baty Venture 3030 has been a great addition to Beatson Clark. So far it has improved speed and accuracy when inspecting the mould components that has translated to improvements in production.

“As a previous user of Baty products, I was pleased to see that the team has continued to be extremely professional with good communication from the start and everything promised has been delivered. The ongoing support and back-up have been excellent.”