Laser print date control system for Bochkarev Brewery created

2026: Creation of Laser Print Date Control System

A laser print date control system has been created for the Bochkarev Breweries company. Nord Clan (Nord Clan) announced this on March 13, 2026.

Beer bottling lines operate at speeds inaccessible to human control - up to 72 thousand cans per hour. Skipping even one marking defect can result in the disposal of tens of thousands of units of products, financial losses and a blow to the reputation of the brand. To eliminate such risks, Nord Clan has developed a vision system for Brewery Bochkarev based on the ML Sense platform. The system recognizes laser marking in real time, checks it with batch parameters, and also determines printing defects: unreadable date and incomplete printing. If a scrap is detected, the system stops the line.

It was necessary to create a system that:

• recognizes the marking applied by the laser printer;
• detects unreadable or incomplete characters;
• checks the date of filling and the expiration date with the current recipe parameters (270 or 360 days);
• sends a signal to stop the line and notifies the operator.

Before starting the line, the operator selects the product type and enters batch parameters: filling date, expiration date and marking template. This data becomes the benchmark for checking each bank.

When moving along the conveyor, each can is automatically fixed by the camera in the control area. Real-time system:

• Determines whether marking is available.
• recognizes characters;
• checks their readability;
• Checks the expiration date and expiration date against the specified batch parameters and the system date.

When a deviation is detected, the system generates an event and sends a signal to stop the line. The operator receives a notification stating the reason: no date, unreadable printing or non-compliance with the batch parameters.

The machine vision camera is located in a protected casing with dome lighting - this design allows you to obtain high-quality images and minimizes the influence of glare. The camera is mounted on a stabilized base that compensates for conveyor vibrations and maintains recognition accuracy even at maximum line speed.

The system is designed taking into account the flexibility of production: the camera height can be quickly reconfigured to different can formats without long line downtime. The project controls banks of three types of volume: 0.43, 0.33 and 0.25 liters.

The operator's AWS is installed in a dust-proof stainless steel cabinet, which meets the requirements of food production and sanitary standards. This design ensures safe and convenient control of the line, subject to all hygiene rules.

The system provides:

• Control of date application in 2 lines of 14 characters (for example, filling date + expiration date)
• control of date application in 1 line;
• control of banoctrex of volume types: 0.43, 0.33 and 0.25 liters.

Additional system features:

• Setting sensitivity thresholds (for example, stopping a line only in a series of defects)
• selection of the system response to different types of defects (fix, but not stop the line);
• storage of event history and images of defective jars for analysis;
• supports multiple recipes and labeling patterns for different brands and formats.

For the project, a specialized datacet was formed and marked up with various versions of laser date printing - taking into account fonts, contrast, reflections and quality of application.

The neural network is trained:

• highlight the marking area;
• Recognize characters
• determine deviations from reference values;
• classify defects by type.

The model also easily adapts to new product formats and labeling templates with minimal further training.

The project was completed in January 2026 and exemplified the effective implementation of machine vision on a high-speed food production line. The system achieved up to 99% recognition accuracy. This made it possible to fully automate marking control. Integration with the production line reduced the likelihood of operational risks and created a replicable quality standard.

{{quote 'As long as the marking control remains with the person, the risk of error remains. Automatic validation based on ML Sense combines laser labeling and validation into a single process. The defect is eliminated before it gets into shipment - control is carried out at all stages, from application to packaging of finished products. For high-speed lines, this is the only way to guarantee the quality of each unit without losing production pace - said Ilya Kashtankin, CEO of Nord Clan.}}

2025: Plan to Establish a Marking Control System

Nord Clan won a tender for the creation of an intelligent marking control system for the Volga brewery line in Nizhny Novgorod, owned by Bochkarev Breweries. The introduction of neural network technology will prevent the production line from coming off the production line with an unreadable or erroneous filling date. Nord Clan announced this on December 23, 2025.

The project is aimed at minimizing reputational and production risks through 100% inspection of each bank on the conveyor.

The system, developed on the ML Sense machine learning platform, will monitor in real time the correctness of the filling date on aluminum cans. The functionality of the system will allow you to automatically determine the type of bank and check the information printed on the bottom, regardless of the print format. Algorithmic machine vision will not only detect the possible absence of a date or unreadable characters, but will also conduct a complete verification of the data: they recognize numbers, letters and time, comparing the production date and expiration date with information from the ID Print marker via TCP, and also check their compliance with the system date and established recipes. In the event of inaccuracies, the system will immediately signal to stop the conveyor so that the operator can eliminate the cause of the failure.

High-tech equipment is installed at all factories of our company. Continuing the modernization and expansion of production facilities, we are launching a bottling line in Nizhny Novgorod, which will receive a control system from Nord Clan. It will ensure the clarity of the application of the production date and expiration date, which is not only a requirement of the law, but also acts as one of the key factors of consumer confidence, - commented Roman Astanin, production director of Breweries Bochkarev.

The solution being implemented is flexible and can be adapted to different can formats and labeling parameters. The control unit and the operator's workplace will be located in a protected building directly in the workshop.

We create a production barrier that reduces the risk of products with incorrect labeling to the consumer by orders of magnitude. The integration of artificial intelligence into the technological process allows us to bring quality control to the highest possible level and ensure that each product unit complies with strict plant standards. This is another project to control labeling in our portfolio. Earlier, we completed a similar task to control labeling and labels on engine oil cans and launched our own solution, Honest Labeling, said Ilya Kashtankin, CEO of Nord Clan.