Snapshot
Who: USDA-inspected RTE facility network (anonymized) — three plants, shared SKU catalog.
Problem: Human spot checks missed intermittent seal issues; downstream x-ray was too late to save the batch.
What we shipped: Multi-camera edge boxes, synchronized triggers from encoders, and a batch genealogy service that ties frames to lot codes.
Challenge
Reflective film and steam confused early models; false rejects angered ops. Precision had to climb before recall risk budged.
Approach
We started on the worst SKU by complaint rate, froze lighting angles, and used synthetic defects from the tooling vendor to augment rare classes.
Solution components
Rollout timeline
Weeks 1–4 · Line instrumentation
Encoder wiring, lighting baffles, baseline image quality SLAs.
Weeks 5–10 · Model hardening
Precision/recall targets signed by QA and plant manager.
Weeks 11–14 · Regulatory packet
Validation scripts, change control, electronic signatures.
Month 6 · Replication kit
Playbooks exported to sister plants with hardware bill of materials.
“Retail audits used to keep me up at night. Now I pull the tray ID and we show exactly what the cameras saw before it ever left our building.”
— Director of Food Safety & Quality, anonymized
Results & controls
- Zero class-I recalls in the first 18 months of production deployment.
- 94% of visually confirmed defects intercepted pre-packaging vs. baseline manual sampling.
- Customer complaints for seal integrity −67% YoY on monitored SKUs.
- Full trace packet generated in <90 seconds for mock recall drills.
Representative scenario for marketing purposes. Regulatory submissions vary by jurisdiction and product category.