Variable Data Inspection

Traditional inspection techniques rely on the comparison between a known good image and the inspected one. They rely on the repetitiveness of the printing process - a natural feature of printing – making many identical copies of one master print cyllinder.

The proliferation of digital printing technology has opened new possibilities for the content of the print. Digital printing machines can easily produce variable data which opens new horizons for product tracking, brand protection, entertainment and new methods of communication. This has let to a constant increase of the products with variable data. Such products cannot be inspected with traditional comparison methods.

For the inspection of products with variable data, Nikka Research has developed several technologies for dynamic interpretation of variable data objects – bar codes, 2D codes, alphanumeric fields and images. The image data is converted into clear text messages and compared with the reference values.

Typical applications include:

• sequential numbering control in security and pharmaceutical applications;
• print-on-demand for security applications;
• Alis-Jet closed loop variable data printing system;
• Lottery ticket inspection.