Hide Sorting Control Using Traceability Data and Customer Specs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tanning processes lack traceability, efficiency, and flexibility in sorting and packaging leather hides, leading to inconsistent quality, customer dissatisfaction, and increased costs due to manual labor and inflexible packaging methods.
Innovation Solution
A tanning control system that captures and utilizes data from unloading, tanning, and sorting processes to generate unique identifiers for hides, enabling automated sorting, folding, and packaging based on batch and customer specifications, enhancing traceability and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional manual sorting and packaging methods are used, then flexibility in handling different hide characteristics is maintained, but productivity is low and processing time is excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical sorting operations with an automated system that uses imaging devices to capture hide characteristics, processes images to determine characteristics, and automatically sorts hides based on processed information. This substitution dramatically increases productivity while maintaining flexibility through programmable control algorithms that can adapt to different sorting criteria.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables hides to be automatically identified and sorted based on their own inherent characteristics (grain pattern, scars, brands) without human intervention. The imaging and processing system reads the hide's unique features and autonomously determines sorting decisions, making the sorting process self-directed and highly efficient.
2Manufacturing precision
If conventional packaging processes are used without utilizing prior hide measurements and batch characteristics, then packaging simplicity is maintained, but manufacturing precision and quality consistency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary imaging and characteristic determination during the sorting process, before packaging occurs. This advance processing of hide information allows the packaging system to be precisely configured for each hide type, ensuring quality consistency while the complexity is managed through automated sequencing of operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from image processing and characteristic analysis to dynamically adjust sorting and packaging decisions. The processed information about hide characteristics feeds back into the control system, which then optimizes packaging parameters to maintain consistent quality across different hide batches.
3Reliability
If conventional tanning processes without traceability systems are used, then process simplicity is maintained, but reliability of quality control and troubleshooting capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates digital copies of hide characteristics through imaging and processes these copies to generate traceable records of each hide's properties and sorting decisions. These digital replicas enable comprehensive quality tracking and troubleshooting without adding physical complexity to the actual sorting and packaging operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The image processing system acts as an intermediary between the physical hide and the sorting decision-making process. It captures, analyzes, and translates physical hide characteristics into processed information that can be reliably tracked and used for quality control, serving as a mediator that bridges physical and digital domains for traceability.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for sorting hides are provided. In particular, one or more embodiments comprise a tanning control system that enhances the traceability of hides by capturing and utilizing data related to the unloading, tanning, sorting, and packaging of hides. Furthermore, one or more embodiments enable the tanning control system to improve efficiency by sorting hides based, at least in part, on data generated during prior tanning processes. Additionally, one or more embodiments facilitate the tanning control system in customizing the sorting and packaging of hides based, at least in part, on one or more hide characteristics and/or customer specifications.