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【2020 Application Example】 Peeking into a Baozi to See How AI Reduces Scrap Rates by 50% and Boosts Production Efficiency by 60% for Frozen Foods

From production line to dining table, who oversees the hygiene management of what we eat?

In recent years, there has been a continuous stream of news reports concerning food safety, such as repackaging expired goods, and poisoning incidents at Hong Rui Zhen. It's clear that people are increasingly concerned about the hygiene of their food. However, due to various quality control methods in food processing, there are inherent risks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has pointed out that unsafe food and water cause physical harm to 2 million people each year. Hence, international markets demand that food processing companies must establish a traceability system for products. This is why major domestic food processors also aim to set up a production traceability system to quickly trace back to problematic raw materials and initiate recall and destruction of problematic food.

Visible assurance, implementing production transparency

A major domestic food manufacturer producing frozen food and instant meals has expanded its market presence to North America, New Zealand, Japan, etc. They are also at the forefront in promoting food management domestically, having obtained certifications such as HACCP, ISO22000, ISO14001.

Since food production is labor-intensive, it is prone to quality impacts caused by worker fatigue. Additionally, the production lines often have unclear records of production quantities, processes, and timing. This obscurity in traceability makes it difficult to track production information when defects occur, leading to food safety management gaps that result in the scrapping of entire batches.

To address this, the Production Development Center at National Sun Yat-sen University utilized its advisory resources to help the food manufacturer tackle food safety management challenges, planning the use of AI technology to collect production data and establish anti-fraud and traceability for food production.

Intelligent manufacturing boosts food safety

Although the level of automation is not high in the processing of bakery products, the food plant in this case is keen to enhance the automation of its production lines and introduce smart manufacturing. For businesses, a traceability system not only helps establish brand image and increase product and brand value, but also gives consumers peace of mind due to the transparency of production lines.

Therefore, the Production Development Center at National Sun Yat-sen University matched AI technology service providers, Hong Ge Technology, in the first phase to plan the introduction of data collection devices to link food work orders information, reducing human operational omissions and capturing real-time production information through dashboards to ensure the consistency of production stage information potentially affected by human factors.

Schematic for intelligent production line planning

▲ Schematic for intelligent production line planning

The second phase involves using deep learning during the dough fermentation stage to calculate size and volume, analyze the relationship between temperature, humidity, fermentation time, and product volume, and assess whether to introduce AOI foreign object detection after freezing as a second quality control step.

Schematic of AI-integrated quality control for finished products

▲ Schematic of AI-integrated quality control for finished products

Food processing ID card, launching the AI-era of food safety tracing

In Taiwan, the understanding and acceptance of production history by consumers is gradually improving. From the supply of raw materials, processing, production, to distribution and sales, it is necessary to have complete control and provide transparent information. Publicly disclosing the production history not only increases trust between enterprises and consumers, but also aligns Taiwan's food safety environment with international standards.

In 2020, the Production Development Center at National Sun Yat-sen University will assist enterprises with the adoption of advanced AI technology, documenting the entire data process from industry to dining table and supervising food production processes to successfully implement product tracing, prevention of adulteration, and the establishment of high standards for products, thus advancing food processing products to international standards.

「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only. Translation date:2024-05-19」

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這是一張圖片。 This is a picture.
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【導入案例】維繫遊艇王國美譽 嘉信遊艇導入國內第一套FRP複材超音波智慧檢測
Maintaining the reputation of the “Kingdom of Yachts” - Kha Shing Enterprise introduces the first domestic FRP ultrasonic smart inspection of composite materials

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constructed in sections to facilitate inspection For large yachts over 24 meters long, construction in sections is very time-consuming and labor-intensive To shorten the time of the yacht manufacturing process, Kha Shing Enterprise will first carry out the gel coating process for the hull, and then perform the hand lay-on process The hull manufacturing process has two types of composite material test specimen structures In terms of 54-foot yacht hulls, the hull contains gel coat, core material, fiber and resin, and the total thickness is about 32cmplusmn01cm, which is twice the total thickness of FRP hull without core material of about 16cmplusmn01cm Defects such as incomplete impregnation of glass fiber or residual air bubbles between glass fiber and resin occasionally occur during the manufacturing process The types of defects include insufficient resin, voids, and delamination Once defects occur, the supply of hull materials will be insufficient and yacht delivery will be delayed 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actual application in yachts The image inspected is an ultrasound image The image displays different colors based on the ultrasonic feedback signal An AI model that automatically identifies defective parts is established through the YOLO algorithm If the amount of abnormal data collected is insufficient for training, the CNN-based Autoencoder algorithm is used to collect normal image data for training and construct an AI model for abnormality detection The object detection YOLO model is trained by inputting image data marked as having defects, while the abnormality detection model is trained by inputting image data without defects Simulated defective specimen corresponding to PAUT results Defect detection by and AI system can shorten the construction period by 15 months and speed up determination by 50 After the development of this AI system is completed, it will be validated on actual 54-foot yachts of Kha Shing Enterprise, and can effectively resolve issues with defects The application of AI technology in ultrasonic inspection for intelligent determination is expected to accelerate determination by approximately 50, and will also shortens the construction period by 15 months, effectively improving the speed and quality of the yacht manufacturing process As Taiwan develops larger and more refined yachts, it will create opportunities for industry optimization and transformation, as well as opportunities for the development of key technologies The application of an AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials is the first of its kind in the yacht industry, and is expected to attract more yacht manufacturers with inspection needs The AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials has three major competitive advantages 1 Professional inspection experience and digital database to facilitate process management and analysis 2 Automatic AI determination and identification quickly identifies defects and provides immediate feedback to process engineers 3 High-efficiency process inspection provides defect repair recommendations, reduces damage rate, and improves the strength and quality of composite materials The application of AI technology can optimize the yacht manufacturing process, reduce manual inspection, create added value through the application of AI in Taiwanrsquos yacht industry, increase international purchase orders, and allow Taiwan yachts to continue to enjoy a good reputation in the world Furthermore, this business model has also spread to fields of application related to composite materials, increasing cross-sector market usage It is estimated to contribute approximately NT14 to NT2 billion in economic benefits to Taiwan's equipment maintenance and non-destructive testing market